Construction Work Done, Australia, Preliminary

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Provides preliminary estimates of value of total construction work done, building work done and engineering construction work done

Reference period
March 2023
Released
31/05/2023

Key statistics

In seasonally adjusted terms in the March quarter:

  • Total construction work done rose 1.8% to $57,686.5m
  • Building work done fell 1.1% to $30,620.7m
  • Engineering work done rose 5.3% to $27,065.8m

The trend estimate for total construction work done rose 1.9%.

Value of construction work done

Value of construction work done, chain volume measures
 Mar 23 ($m)Dec 22 to Mar 23 (%)Mar 22 to Mar 23 (%)

Seasonally adjusted estimates(a)

 Building30,620.7-1.1-2.2
 Residential18,071.0-2.0-5.1
 Non-residential12,549.80.32.2
 Engineering27,065.85.314.9
 Total construction57,686.51.85.1

Trend estimates(a)

 Building30,860.70.2-0.1
 Residential18,268.20.3-1.8
 Non-residential12,588.90.02.6
 Engineering26,828.03.613.2
 Total construction57,753.41.95.8

a. Reference year for Chain Volume Measures is 2020-21.

a. Reference year for Chain Volume Measures is 2020-21.

The value of total construction work done rose 1.8% in the March quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. The increase was driven by engineering work, which rose 5.3% in the March quarter and is 14.9% higher than the same time last year. Building work done fell 1.1% and is 2.2% lower than the same time last year.

The trend estimate for total construction work done rose 1.9% in the March quarter.

a. Reference year for Chain Volume Measures is 2020-21.

The value of building work done fell 1.1% in the March quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. The decrease was driven by a fall in residential building work, which decreased 2.0% in the March quarter and is 5.1% lower than at the same time last year. Non-residential building work done is 0.3% higher in the March quarter, 2.2% higher than at the same time last year.

The trend estimate for total building work done rose 0.2% in the March quarter.

Value of construction work done, seasonally adjusted chain volume measures
 Mar 23 ($m)Dec 22 to Mar 23 (%)Mar 22 to Mar 23 (%)
State/Territory
New South Wales17,498.93.99.2
Victoria15,799.42.63.2
Queensland10,775.43.56.5
South Australia3,528.4-0.6-1.4
Western Australia7,494.8-2.94.6
Tasmania875.6-0.9-5.7
Northern Territory727.4-4.05.0
Australian Capital Territory886.6-0.7-4.0

a. Reference year for Chain Volume Measures is 2020-21.

Total construction work done rose in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland with declines recorded across all other states and territories.

Data downloads

All time series workbooks

Data files
Data files

About this issue

This publication provides an early indication of trends in building and engineering construction activity. The data are preliminary estimates with a response rate of approximately 70% of surveyed construction entities during the quarter. This is lower than the average response rate due to difficulties collecting data as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This places the data at increased risk of revision when results are updated in Engineering Construction Activity, Australia on 28 June 2023 and in Building Activity, Australia on 12 July 2023.

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 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.

This release includes revisions to both the Building Activity and Engineering Construction Survey. Building Activity data have been revised back to March 2017 and Engineering Construction data have been revised back to September 2019. A feature article has been included in the December 2015 Building Activity, Australia publication explaining potential sources of revisions in more detail.

Inquiries

For inquiries about these and related statistics, contact the Customer Assistance Service via the ABS website Contact Us page. The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to us.

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 8755.0.

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