Australia’s residential development industry, having navigated significant challenges in 2024 with climbing exit rates and decade-high insolvency, is showing signs of recovery in 2025. To explore these positive trends, we convened a panel of industry experts to discuss market changes and the impact of iCIRT ratings on buyer and funder confidence.
Read more
Buying a home or investing in property is a significant financial decision—one that comes with risks, especially in identifying reliable builders and developers. To assist in addressing these challenges, the Independent Construction Industry Rating Tool (iCIRT) was developed. iCIRT empowers buyers by providing transparent, data-driven ratings for builders and developers, helping them make informed decisions. But how does it work, and why is it so vital?
With heightened risk in the construction sector, lenders are continuing to exercise greater caution, meticulously evaluating every aspect of a project before committing resources. Given the critical role of investment and finance in real estate and property development, a lack of funding or excessive cost-of-capital could spell doom for construction projects before they even clear the approval stage.
Cleansing your customer data of deceased records improves data integrity and helps businesses mitigate legal and financial risks. As the new year approaches, it’s an ideal time to cleanse your database and ensure it contains accurate and up-to-date customer information.
Cost-of-living pressures have negatively impacted the financial ambitions of Australians, with 2 in 5 more stressed about their financial situation
As our industry works to improve confidence in construction, partnering with the right professionals is more critical than ever for developers. iCIRT rated developers and builders now represent over half of the residential market by value, putting those whose entire build team is iCIRT rated in a unique position of being able to showcase their trustworthy credentials.
While PEP, sanctions and adverse media screening are vital for customer due diligence, false positives create unnecessary delays and frustration. These inaccurate matches waste time and resources, slowing down onboarding and impacting the customer experience.
So, how can you optimise your screening process and minimise false positives?
Residential builders across Australia are choosing to distinguish themselves from high-risk and unscrupulous operators by seeking an iCIRT rating.
As we know, ‘trustworthiness’ is a crucial business asset. With the construction sector continuing to experience high insolvency rates, 4 in 5 Australians are concerned about construction quality, defects and insolvency risk.
Builders who have undergone the iCIRT assessment share three key reasons how an iCIRT rating has benefited their business:
Consumer trust in the construction sector continues to fall, with two-fifths of Aussies saying their perception of the industry has gotten worse over the past 12 months.
Equifax has been recognised as an ABA100 Winner for Business Innovation, Digital Transformation and Business Transformation in The Australian Business Awards 2024.
