DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

		Dec qtr 10	Sep qtr 10 to Dec qtr 10	Dec qtr 09 to Dec qtr 10
		$m	% change	% change
TREND ESTIMATES(a)
Value of work done
	Building	21 020.0	-2.4	6.2
	Residential	11 743.7	-1.0	6.0
	Non-residential	9 291.1	-4.0	6.6
	Engineering	20 953.0	2.8	7.9
	Total construction	42 053.4	0.3	7.3
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES(a)
Value of work done
	Building	20 496.2	-5.1	4.0
	Residential	11 591.6	-1.1	5.9
	Non-residential	8 904.6	-9.9	1.5
	Engineering	21 425.6	7.3	13.6
	Total construction	41 921.8	0.8	8.7
(a) Chain volume measures, reference year 2008-09.

Value of construction work done, Chain volume measures - Trend estimates

Value of building work done, Chain volume measures - Trend estimates

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


VALUE OF WORK DONE, CHAIN VOLUME MEASURES

TOTAL CONSTRUCTION

• The trend estimate for total construction work done rose 0.3% in the December quarter 2010.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for total construction work done rose 0.8%, to $41,921.8m, in the December quarter.

BUILDING WORK DONE

• The trend estimate for total building work done fell 2.4% in the December quarter 2010.
• The trend estimate for non-residential building work done fell 4.0% in the December quarter.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate of total building work done fell 5.1%, to $20,496.2m, in the December quarter.

ENGINEERING WORK DONE

• The trend estimate for engineering work done rose 2.8% in the December quarter 2010.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for engineering work done rose 7.3%, to $21,425.6m, in the December quarter.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
March 2011	25 May 2011
June 2011	24 August 2011

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

This publication provides an early indication of trends in building and engineering construction activity. The data are estimates based on a response rate of approximately 80% of the value of both building and engineering work done during the quarter. More comprehensive and updated results will be released in Engineering Construction Activity, Australia (cat.no.8762.0) on 5 April 2011 and in Building Activity, Australia (cat. no. 8752.0) on 19 April 2011.


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

There are no changes in this issue.


DATA NOTES

The trend estimates should be interpreted with caution as the underlying behaviour of building activity may be affected by Government stimulus packages, including the "Building the Education Revolution" (BER) program and Social Housing Initiatives as well as other developments associated with global economic conditions. For more details on trend estimates, please see paragraphs 24 to 26 of the explanatory notes.

Widespread flooding in the eastern states, particularly Queensland, and other recent natural disasters have not affected the quality of statistics in this release. As these events occurred after, or very late, in the December quarter reference period, the overall level of construction activity was not noticeably affected for either national or state level estimates.

It is anticipated that the statistics presented in future releases of this publication may be affected both in the quality of estimates and through the direct impact on construction activity of the disasters and related recovery activities. Where impacts occur, these will be noted in this publication.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Rebecca Eales on Adelaide (08) 8237 7647.