Construction Work Done, Australia, Preliminary

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This publication presents preliminary statistics for the value of construction work done in Australia

Reference period
December 2019
Released
26/02/2020

Key statistics

In the December quarter:

  • Trend estimate for total construction fell 1.4%.
  • Seasonally adjusted estimates for:
    • Total construction fell 3.0%;
    • Building work done fell 4.1%;
    • Engineering work done fell 1.5%.

Main features

December key figures

  Dec qtr 19Sep qtr 19 to Dec qtr 19Dec qtr 18 to Dec qtr 19
  $m% change% change
 Trend estimates(a)
Value of work done   
 Building29 147.9-2.0-6.5
 Residential17 577.9-3.6-12.3
 Non-residential11 567.20.54.1
 Engineering20 926.7-0.5-6.8
 Total construction50 064.4-1.4-6.6
 Seasonally adjusted estimates(a)
Value of work done   
 Building28 937.3-4.1-7.1
 Residential17 486.1-4.6-12.8
 Non-residential11 451.2-3.43.3
 Engineering20 835.7-1.5-8.0
 Total construction49 773.0-3.0-7.4

a. Reference year for Chain Volume Measures is 2017-18.
 

December key points

Value of work done, chain volume measures

Total construction

  • The trend estimate for total construction work done fell 1.4% in the December quarter 2019.
  • The seasonally adjusted estimate for total construction work done fell 3.0% to $49,773.0m in the December quarter.
     

Building work done

  • The trend estimate for total building work done fell 2.0% in the December quarter 2019.
  • The trend estimate for non-residential building work done rose 0.5% and residential building work fell 3.6%.
  • The seasonally adjusted estimate of total building work done fell 4.1% to $28,937.3m in the December quarter.
     

Engineering work done

  • The trend estimate for engineering work done fell 0.5% in the December quarter.
  • The seasonally adjusted estimate for engineering work done fell 1.5% to $20,835.7m in the December quarter.
     

Construction work done, chain volume measures

Trend percentage change

The trend estimate for total construction work done fell 1.4% this quarter and has fallen for six quarters.

The trend estimate for engineering construction work done fell 0.5% this quarter and has fallen for seven quarters.

The trend estimate for total building work done fell 2.0% this quarter and has fallen for five quarters.

The trend estimate for residential building work done fell 3.6% this quarter and has fallen for five quarters.

The trend estimate for non-residential building work done rose 0.5% this quarter and has risen for six quarters.

Construction work done, states and territories

Chain volume measures - trend estimates

Construction work done in New South Wales has fallen for five quarters.

Construction work done in Victoria was flat this quarter.

Construction work done in Queensland has fallen for seven quarters.

Construction work done in Western Australia has risen for two quarters.

Construction work done in South Australia has fallen for six quarters.

Construction work done in the Northern Territory has fallen for nine quarters.

Construction work done in Tasmania has fallen for three quarters.

Construction work done in the Australian Capital Territory has fallen for five quarters.

Data notes

Trend estimates should be used with caution due to the volatility caused by large engineering projects. For more details on trend estimates, please see paragraphs 24 to 26 of the explanatory notes. 

 Mining projects tend to be complex in structure and comprise a number of different investment activities including exploration, engineering construction, plant and equipment and buildings. A feature article released in the March 2012 issue of Private New Capital Expenditure and Expected Expenditure, Australia (cat. no. 5625.0) provides a summary of the conceptual basis of the relevant ABS publications that measure investment in Australia, using a hypothetical mining project to illustrate how this investment is reflected in ABS data.

Bushfires

Bushfires resulted in minor disruption to data collection activities during the December 2019 quarter in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory. Quality assurance undertaken by the ABS confirmed that these disruptions did not result in any impacts to Construction activity statistics. Whilst it is expected that bushfire rebuilding and recovery activity will have some impact on future Construction activity estimates this activity is not yet present in the December estimates.

Inquiries

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070. The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to us.

Data downloads - time series spreadsheets

Table 01. Value of construction work done, by sector, chain volume measures, Australia

Table 02. Value of construction work done, by sector, current prices, Australia

Table 03. Value of building work done, by sector, chain volume measures, Australia

Table 04. Value of building work done, chain volume measures, states and territories, original

Table 05. Value of building work done, chain volume measures, states and territories, seasonally adjusted

Table 06. Value of building work done, by sector, current prices, Australia

Table 07. Value of building work done, by sector, current prices, states and territories, original

Table 08. Value of construction work done, chain volume measures, states and territories

Table 09. Value of construction work done, current prices, states and territories, original

All time series spreadsheets

Data downloads - data cubes

Relative standard errors, building work done - Australia

Relative standard errors, building work done - states and territories

Relative standard errors, total construction work done - states and territories

History of changes

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