Victoria’s ‘Portaloo index’ shows where new homes are being built, as use of portable toilets drops around the state

The number of portaloos on building sites across the state has blunged by almost a third in a grim sign costs and labours shortages are crippling the construction industry.

The latest numbers from AIM Hire, who operate 7790 portaloos across the state, show just 66 per cent are in use today — more than 2200 behind peak levels.

Onsite facilities were almost totally occupied at the start of 2023, when the state’s biggest provider of temporary toilets recorded 96 per cent of their supply in the field.

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The data also provides a snapshot of where the most tradies are logging hours building new homes and how they compare to a year ago.

Clyde and Clyde North in Melbourne’s south east are in the city’s top spot with 367 portaloos in place between them. But the number was above 440 a year ago.

And there have been major falls in the city’s west, with the number in Tarneit, previously the city’s number two destination for mobile loos, dropping to 89 from 240. Truganina figures have also been flushed down to 80 from 178.

Away from new housing estates, Glen Waverley and East Bentleigh were the highest-ranked established suburbs.

AIM Hire chief executive Elise Kelsey said the firm recently had to rent an extra block of land to store a further 1000 portaloos sitting vacant at the moment.

“We knew there was going to be a drop coming, but it has really slowed down,” Ms Kelsey said.

“It’s probably the worst we have seen in many, many years.”

Their toilets sitting empty means fewer homes for first-home buyers, as that’s who most of their clients are building for.

While the firm took about a year to recover loos from Porter Davis sites after the builder’s collapse last year, most builder demand is down by 25 per cent.

“We are very busy picking things up, but don’t have a lot of new deliveries going out,” Ms Kelsey said.

With the Reserve Bank believed to be considering a possible interest rate hike in August, she urged them to avoid canning the industry with a further rise and called for creative solutions to help young people build a new home.

Housing Industry Association chief economist Tim Reardon said stimulating more activity sooner rested with the nation’s prudential regulator, APRA, who could look at reviewing a requirement for banks to stress-test loans at 3 per cent higher repayments than current levels.

Without action, Mr Reardon said demand for new builds, and portaloos, was expected to continue to slide until late this year — and even then would only pick up as the cost of renting and buying established properties rises and made building a new home more affordable by comparison.

“We think we will reach a trough in September this year and from there it will begin to recover slowly,” Mr Reardon said.

AIM Hire operations manager Tom Galletly warned even if buyers could be coaxed back in, developers could now “make more money elsewhere” and might turn away from building homes in Victoria.

Mr Galletly added that government plans to increase in-fill development could also lead to more portaloos needing permits to be installed in laneways, on footpaths or even in mobile trailers as there would be insufficient space on some more compact building sites.

Metricon building manager Simon Gatt said the portaloo index declining would also reflect more rapid construction, with the facilities spending less time on sites as a result of building times being reduced by about eight weeks in the past year.

“We are completing more than we are starting at the moment, as site start numbers are returning to where they were pre-pandemic,” Mr Gatt said.

“But portaloos are also spending less time on sites now and we are completing jobs that were part of the pandemic supply challenges.”

The state’s biggest builder is also seeing early signs of recovery for new sales, with inquiries up 40 per cent in the past month.

But the biggest issue facing the industry as Victoria pursues ambitious housing construction targets of 800,000 new residences to be built in the next decade is getting enough tradies.

“We need more bodies to fill the portaloos,” Mr Gatt said.

WHERE THE PORTALOOS ARE

CLYDE NORTH

228

CLYDE

139

DONNYBROOK

130

WOLLERT

108

OFFICER

91

TARNEIT

89

MICKLEHAM

86

FRASER RISE

84

SUNBURY

80

TRUGANINA

80

WERRIBEE

80

ARMSTRONG CREEK

75

BEVERIDGE

61

LARA

57

BERWICK

56

TRARALGON

56

WARRNAMBOOL

55

CHARLEMONT

54

GLEN WAVERLEY

50

GREENVALE

46

BENTLEIGH EAST

43

LUCKNOW

42

HUNTLY

41

DIGGERS REST

40

MANOR LAKES

40

MOUNT WAVERLEY

38

KALKALLO

34

STRATHTULLOH

33

DEANSIDE

30

WYNDHAM VALE

29

CRANBOURNE

27

WARRAGUL

27

COLDSTREAM

26

DONCASTER

26

MAMBOURIN

26

WONTHAGGI

24

BONNIE BROOK

23

LUCAS

23

PAKENHAM

23

ROCKBANK

23

BOTANIC RIDGE

22

SOUTH MORANG

21

WINTER VALLEY

21

DROUIN

20

SAN REMO

20

CHELTENHAM

19

FYANSFORD

19

GISBORNE

19

JUNCTION VILLAGE

19

SOURCE: AIM Hire

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