Residential boom creating employment opportunities

Residential boom creating employment opportunitiesEmployment opportunities in the residential sector of the construction and property industries is seeing a boost, according to recruitment firm Hays, which recently released its quarterly report on employment hotspots. In particular, there’s a shortage of experienced property managers. Chris Kent, regional director of property at Hays, said residential has been in recovery for a while, with interest rates being historically low for a sustained period, prompting property investors and first homebuyers to return to the market and therefore create new housing stock. “That’s both from a construction perspective – of volume builders and first homebuyers – as well as on the management side of things, with residential property managers for the investor pool being in really short supply,” Kent said. He added there are more opportunities across the board for any work related to residential, from valuers and property managers, to development managers and construction estimators and supervisors. “In anything associated with residential – broadacre and medium and high density – there are definitely opportunities in the employment marketplace, and salaries are reflecting that as well.” Hays’ quarterly report revealed a common thread between construction and property in terms of residential opportunities, but Kent said the result is not surprising. “It’s been coming for some time. Obviously, stock takes time to be built. Residential has been a really tough market since the GFC, so it’s taken a few years to build. Some markets go at different times,” he said. “Sydney has had a very hot 12 months or so. In the 12 months prior to that, Perth was very hot as well, and expectations are that Brisbane isn’t far behind.” The survey is based on the observations and consultations of Hays’ approximately 900 consultants Australia-wide, of which about 200 recruit specifically in property and construction across various disciplines. Meanwhile, commercial property opportunities are a mixed bag, with Kent saying demand varies depending on the conditions under which the industry is operating. “Commercial property in places that are affected by the mining slowdown, in Queensland and WA, has done it relatively tough with vacancy rates going up in commercial property. Therefore, [there are] probably some hits in the leasing and sales areas,” he said. “Many of the developers have a long-term view and there’s still a fair bit of supply coming onto the market over the next two or three years, because I think the medium-term outlook is still very strong for commercial property as well.” The rising demand across residential is good news for recruiters. Kent said Hays’ property business grew by per cent in the past 12 months, while its construction business saw a rise of 10 per cent. “For recruiters, it’s definitely a more buoyant market for two reasons. One: There are more jobs. Two: With confidence growing, people are willing to look at a new job and a new opportunity, whereas when confidence is low, people will tend to grit their teeth and hang in wherever they may be.” The business forecasts further growth of about 10 per cent across both disciplines, with improvement in architecture. “One of the really positive signs for the property and construction sector is design and architecture, which was feared to really be on the ropes there for a little while because of the ability to be able to do that offshore. But our architectural businesses have certainly improved a lot in the past 12 months. In fact, they really have been almost the shining light out of those disciplines. And that’s great to see because there’s no reason why we should lose those jobs [to] offshore.” Kent believes developers will also play a bigger role again. “Development projects obviously have quite long life cycles before they go through planning and construction,” he says, “and we’re finding the recruitment market for development managers, assistant development managers and even clients like project managers who are working on behalf of investors has really picked up. “That’s a market that almost disappeared post-GFC, so it suggests private sector investment is on the rise.” For more information about the employment hotspots, go to Hays’ property report and Hays’ construction report