Australian Bureau of Statistics
Celebrating the International Year of Statistics 2013

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Trends over recent years in the level of activity of the construction industry as a whole are shown in table 20.3, which shows the value of work done, in chain volume terms, by kind of activity. Chain volume measures show changes in value after the direct effects of price changes have been eliminated. The table illustrates that, in 1999-2000, residential construction accounted for 42% of the activity, with engineering construction accounting for a further 33%, and non-residential construction for the remaining 25%. These were similar to the proportions in 1997-98 and in 1998-99. Over the past ten years the volumes of activity in residential and engineering construction have both grown by over 60%, whereas non-residential construction has grown by 18%.

The table also illustrates how the pattern of building activity changes over time. The pattern was very different in 1993-94. In that year, residential building accounted for 45% of total construction activity, non-residential building contributed just under a quarter of activity (22%) and engineering construction the remaining 32%. From then until 1996-97, the proportion of total construction activity occurring in residential building had declined, replaced by growth in the proportion coming from non-residential building and engineering construction. In the past three years, residential building's share of the total value of construction work done has increased.

20.3 TOTAL CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY, Value of Work Done By Type of Activity, Chain Volume Measures(a)
Financial year	Residential building $m	Non-residential building $m	Engineering construction $m	Total construction(b) $m
1991-92	14,779	11,998	11,998	39,059
1992-93	17,281	10,768	12,351	40,839
1993-94	18,939	10,356	13,378	43,457
1994-95	19,671	11,252	13,710	45,686
1995-96	16,288	12,637	15,008	44,923
1996-97	16,137	13,785	15,472	46,621
1997-98	19,154	13,851	17,391	51,635
1998-99	20,754	14,534	19,184	54,473
1999-2000	24,219	14,179	19,254	57,652
(a) Reference year for these chain volume measures is 1998-99. (b) Chain volume measures are not additive for most periods; the component measures do not sum to a total in the same way as the corresponding current price components do.
Source: Building Activity, Australia (8752.0); Engineering Construction Activity, Australia (8762.0).

Graph 20.4 shows the data from table 20.3 in a longer time series. It shows the decline in the value of residential construction from mid-1995, followed by a steady recovery from about mid-1997 accelerating to record levels ahead of the introduction of The New Tax System in July 2000. Engineering construction has grown steadily over the past 10 years.

20.6 BUILDING ACTIVITY, Value of Work Done by Type of Activity, Chain Volume Measures(a)
	New residential building
	Houses $m	Other residential buildings $m	Total $m	Alterations and additions to residential buildings $m	Non-residential building $m	Total building(b) $m
1991-92	9,801	2,687	12,548	2,234	11,998	26,717
1992-93	11,266	3,595	14,919	2,370	10,768	28,149
1993-94	12,176	4,216	16,441	2,508	10,356	29,501
1994-95	12,006	4,932	16,947	2,732	11,253	31,106
1995-96	9,585	4,069	13,654	2,633	12,637	28,916
1996-97	9,483	4,021	13,504	2,632	13,785	29,863
1997-98	11,386	4,700	16,090	3,063	13,851	33,001
1998-99	12,090	5,415	17,505	3,249	14,535	35,289
1999-2000	14,510	6,030	20,540	3,679	14,179	38,398
(a) Reference year for chain volume measures is 1998-99. (b) Chain volume measures are generally not additive; for most periods the component measures do not sum to a total in the same way as the corresponding current price components do.
Source: Building Activity, Australia (8752.0).