Many Sydney homeowners have a renovation or new home in mind and are holding off until building costs come down. It is a reasonable instinct. History shows the wait rarely pays off.
What happened after the pandemic
Between September 2020 and June 2024, the price of building a house in Australia rose 40.8%, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Prices went up in every one of those quarters. When growth finally slowed, costs did not come back down. They simply rose more slowly.
What the latest figures show
Costs are still climbing. The ABS reports that house construction prices were 5.7% higher in the September quarter 2026 than a year earlier, and 5.2% higher in New South Wales. Builders are passing on higher labour and material costs, and the ABS points to numerous causes including freight, copper prices and supply disruptions, to name but a few.
Cotality's Cordell Construction Cost Index shows the same trend. NSW building costs rose 3.2% in the year to September 2026, up from 2.3% through most of 2025. Cotality's John Bennett says hopes of costs easing "may have been short-lived".
Ray White Chief Economist Nerida Conisbee estimates the inputs to build a house now cost about 68% more than they did in 2012.
Why prices are unlikely to drop
Two pressures sit underneath the numbers.
Materials. Freight and supply problems keep pushing up the cost of what goes into a home.
Skilled labour. The ABS lists ongoing shortages of bricklayers, carpenters and concreters amongst many others. The number of construction trades in training fell 9.5% between 2021 and 2025, and residential projects now compete for the same people as infrastructure, data centres and renewable energy project work.
As Conisbee puts it: "Australia increasingly has a construction capacity problem, and until that changes, building more will remain expensive."
If you wait, building costs are more likely to stabilise than fall. A substantial drop is very unlikely, so waiting for lower prices is not a reliable basis for planning your project.
What this means for your project
Our clients are usually planning to stay in their homes, not sell them. They want a home that supports their lives now and can be kept for future generations. That makes the brief, design, approvals and costing about long-term value, rather than resale. This work takes time whatever the market does, and none of it depends on prices falling first.
Starting now means:
You know your real numbers early. A feasibility study shows what your site can achieve before you commit to a full design, helping you align your budget with a home you intend to keep for the long term.
Design and cost are worked out together. At CplusC we design with buildability in mind and build our own projects, so costs are considered as the design develops, not added at the end.
You are ready when you choose to build. With design and approvals in hand, you decide the timing, rather than starting the whole process from scratch later.
Where to start
If you have been waiting for the right moment, a feasibility study is a low-commitment first step. It shows what is possible on your site and helps you plan your investment around a home for you and future generations, not a future sale.
Read about our feasibility studies or get in touch with the team.
Sources:
ABS, "Insights into Output of Building construction prices", 2 August 2024: abs.gov.au
ABS, Producer Price Indexes, Australia, September quarter 2026: abs.gov.au
The Urban Developer, Cotality Cordell Construction Cost Index Q3 2026: theurbandeveloper.com
Scott Kuru, "Construction costs rise again, just as Australia needs more homes", Australian Property Update, 28 September 2026: australianpropertyupdate.com.au
