It appears MB is not the only skeptic when it comes to the RBA and Treasury’s plan to see Australia through the end of the mining boom by building more houses. Building materials firm Boral is hardly gearing up. From the AFR:
Building materials group Boral has cut another 100 jobs from its Australian business, taking total job losses from its global operations in the past six months to 1100 people.
…Mr Kane will tell the Macquarie conference that big challenges remained in the Australian business.
In bricks, roofing and masonry there were low levels of demand, high inventory levels and overcapacity in Western Australia and Queensland.
In timber there were high inventory levels, onerous long-term contracts, low levels of high-end residential construction and the high Australian dollar was putting pressure on pricing because of import competition. Also, there were low levels of demand for windows.
