Rising costs hit Mirvac margins, new homes

Property developer Mirvac blamed the steep rise in labour and material costs for halving its profit margins on some residential projects, triggering a 13 per cent fall in operating earnings this year.

As Mirvac shares slumped 12 per cent in response to the news on Thursday, chief executive Campbell Hanan said too few workers were available to work on construction and that was a major contributor to cost increases.