Carbon Tax to balloon construction costs: analyst

Office construction costs could rise 1.7 per cent under a carbon tax – substantially more than previous estimates (between 0.2 and 0.5pc).

Building a 200 square metre house would also rise the rate – or $18 per square metre, according to adviser Allen Consulting Group, in research prepared for the Property Council of Australia.

An initial tariff of $23 per tonne of carbon for Australia’s top 500 carbon emitters comes into effect on July 1, 2012.

It will rise to $25.50 per tonne in the 2015 financial year.

In an AFR item, Grocon estimated the tax would eat into between 30-50pc of its building margin and about 10-12pc of a development margin.

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Marc Pallisco

A former property analyst and print journalist, Marc is the publisher of realestatesource.com.au.