Celsius Land Update – Catch 22
When The West Australian recently reported on our Prime Minister encouraging construction workers from the east coast to Western Australia; their website received many comments simply asking ‘where will these workers live’. Indeed the current housing and worker shortage in WA is a very real example of a Catch-22 problem. Effectively we cant speed up building homes as there aren’t enough homes for the extra workers to live in.
This problem is being played out across our state. In Exmouth, where Celsius has a number of business interests, the first question in most job interviews with out of town applicants is “Do you a have a place to live?”. If not then they are usually overlooked. It has got to the point where employers are now taking it upon themselves to secure housing for their staff to ensure they can continue to operate. Like most businesses in WA, Celsius Land is impacted by labour shortages. Whilst a shortage of housing and high job vacancies underpin demand for housing, there are significant time and cost constraints to build them.
During the month of April, a project Celsius Land is managing in Exmouth received town planning approval to build 24 villas and apartments which will provide much-needed housing to the town. We are now working hard with a local builder to obtain a price during the month of May that will allow this project to proceed. The project owners and builder are already securing accommodation for trades on this job.
The other projects that Celsius Land are managing are in the town planning stage with construction of our next project due to commence in late 2022. It will certainly be interesting to see how long it takes for Western Australia to get back on an even keel now that our state’s borders have reopened to the world and how this plays out over the next five to ten years.
Regards,
Brenton Downing