Building Activity, Australia

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Provides estimates of value of building work and number of dwellings commenced, completed, under construction and in the pipeline

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Reference period
December 2020
Released
14/04/2021
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Key statistics

  • The seasonally adjusted estimate for the total number of dwelling units commenced rose 18.6%.
  • New private sector house commencements rose 26.6% to 33,761 dwellings.
  • New private sector other residential commencements rose 4.1% to 16,049 dwellings.
  • The value of total building work done rose 0.1% to $29.4b.

Number of dwellings commenced

 

 Dec qtr 20
no.		Sep qtr 20 to Dec qtr 20
% change		Dec qtr 19 to Dec qtr 20
% change

Seasonally adjusted estimates

Total dwelling units commenced51,05518.619.4
New private sector houses33,76126.635.7
New private sector other residential building16,0494.1-6.7

 

 

The total number of dwelling units commenced in Australia rose 18.6% to 51,055 dwellings in the December quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. The rise was driven by private sector houses, which rose 26.6% to a 20 year high of 33,761 dwellings. Private sector other residential dwelling commencements rose 4.1% to 16,049 dwellings and follows a fall of 4.7% in the September quarter.

Value of work done

Chain volume measures

 Dec qtr 20
$m		Sep qtr 20 to Dec qtr 20
% change		Dec qtr 19 to Dec qtr 20
% change

Seasonally adjusted estimates(a)

Total value of work done29,382.10.1-2.2
New residential building15,395.62.6-1.7
Alterations and additions to residential building2,544.63.19.8
Non-residential building11,441.9-3.6-5.2

a. Reference year for chain volume measures is 2018-19

 

Reference year for chain volume measures is 2018-19

Reference year for chain volume measures is 2018-19

The value of total building work done rose 0.1% to $29.4b in the December quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. The rise was driven by new residential building work done, which rose 2.6% to $15.4b. Work done on new houses rose 3.8% to $9.0b, while new other residential building rose 0.9% to $6.4b. Non-residential building work done fell 3.6% to $11.4b.

Data downloads

File contents

Formulas

Type of work

Total = New + Total alterations/additions (incl. refurb and conversion)

Type of building

Total residential building = Total houses + Total other residential building
Non-house building = Total other residential building + Total non-residential building
Total building = Total residential building + Total non-residential building

The Building Activity: Australia pivot table contains the following data items
Data itemClassification
State/TerritoryAll States and Territories
Reference quarterQuarterly (September 2001 to current)
Sector of ownershipPrivate, Public, Total
Type of buildingHouses
 Semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses - One storey
 Semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses - Two or more storeys
 Semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses - Total
 Flats units or apartments - In a one or two storey block
 Flats units or apartments - In a three storey block
 Flats units or apartments - Total including those attached to a house
 Total other residential
 Total residential
 Retail and wholesale trade buildings
 Transport buildings
 Offices
 Commercial buildings n.e.c
 Commercial buildings - Total
 Factories and other secondary production buildings
 Warehouses
 Agricultural and aquacultural buildings
 Other industrial buildings n.e.c.
 Industrial buildings - Total
 Education buildings
 Religious buildings
 Aged care facilities
 Health buildings
 Entertainment and recreation buildings
 Short term accommodation buildings
 Other non-residential n.e.c.
 Other non-residential - Total
 Total non-residential
 Dwellings excluding new residential
 Dwellings excluding houses
 Total
Type of workNew
 Total alterations and additions (incl. refurbishment and conversion)
 Total
Data itemsValue of work done during quarter ($m)
 Value of work yet to be done ($m)
 Value of work in pipeline ($m)
 Value of work not yet commenced ($m)
 Value of work commenced ($m)
 Value of work completed ($m)
 Value of work under construction ($m)
 Dwelling units not yet commenced (no.)
 Dwelling units commenced (no.)
 Dwelling units completed (no.)
 Dwelling units under construction (no.)
Download all (8.83 MB)

Time series spreadsheets

Data files
Download all (12.19 MB)

Data cubes

The Building Activity: Australia datacube contains original current price data at finer levels of building type than is available in the Time series spreadsheets.

Data files

Notes

About this issue

This publication updates the preliminary estimates released in Construction Work Done, Australia on 24 February 2021. The data in this publication are based on a response rate of approximately 90% of the value of building work done during the quarter. The data are subject to revision when returns from the following quarter are processed. Final data for the December 2020 quarter will be released in the next release of this publication, Building Activity, Australia on 14 July 2021.

Significant revisions this issue

Compared to the estimate published in Building Activity, Australia September 2020 released on 20 January 2021:

  • the total value of work done in Australia during the September 2020 quarter has been revised upwards by $601.6m or 2.0% (original, current price). 
  • the total value of work commenced in Australia during the September 2020 quarter has been revised upwards $674.6m or 2.5% (original, current price). This was driven by an upward revision to total non-residential commencements of $262.2m (2.8%), and an upward revision to total residential commencements of $412.4m (2.4%).
  • the number of dwelling unit commencements in the September 2020 quarter has been revised upwards by 440 dwellings or 1.0% (original).

Data note

Several time series spreadsheets contain 'np' (not available for publication) annotations from the September quarter 2012 onwards. This is due to confidential data being contained in these series.

Suspension of trend series

The trend series attempts to measure underlying behaviour in construction activity. This measurement will be significantly affected by changes to regular patterns in activity during this time, as the construction industry faces on-going uncertainty. If the trend estimates in this publication were to be calculated without fully accounting for this irregular event, they would likely provide a misleading view of underlying building activity.

It may be some time before the underlying trend in building activity can be accurately estimated. The trend series have therefore been suspended starting from June 2020. The trend series will be reinstated when more certainty emerges in the underlying trend. 

Update to seasonal adjustment methods

Building Activity uses the concurrent seasonal adjustment method, meaning that seasonal factors are re-estimated each time a new data point becomes available. If not appropriately accounted for, unusual real-world events, such as COVID-19, can distort estimates calculated using this method. From September 2020, seasonal factors for Private sector non-residential building work done in Victoria are being calculated using data up to and including June 2020, then projected from September 2020 onwards. From December 2020, seasonal factors for Private and total sector commencements for new houses and alterations and additions are being calculated using data up to and including September 2020, then projected from December 2020 onwards. This approach, known as the forward factor method, ensures that the seasonal factors are not distorted by COVID-19 impacts.

Feature articles

Updated data for the most recent financial year on average floor area and average construction costs for new dwellings can be found in the 'Data downloads - data cubes' section of this release. For more information about these data please see the previously released feature article 'Characteristics of new residential dwellings - a 15 year summary'. 

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.

Article archive

Building a New Home: Construction Cost Changes, June quarter 2020

Small Area Dwelling Completions, June quarter 2020

Telling storeys - Apartment building heights, December quarter 2019

Characteristics of new residential dwellings - A 15 year summary, December quarter 2019

Abandonment rates for new dwellings, June quarter 2019

Average dwelling commencement times, June quarter 2019

Average dwelling completion times, June quarter 2019

Revisions to building activity statistics, December quarter 2015

Average floor area of new residential dwellings, June quarter 2013

A twenty year history of the cost of building a new house, December quarter 2008

Additional Building and Construction feature articles can be found in Feature Articles by Catalogue Number

 

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 8752.0.

Methodology

Building Activity, Australia methodology, December 2020