Quarterly Construction Activity

The ABS Released their Quarterly Construction Activity numbers this week which showed that total construction activity continued to decline last quarter with total construction down -2.8% on last quarter and -16.9% on the same period last year. A closer look at the overall numbers shows that the annual decline is mostly driven by fluctuations in engineering construction activities which are down -34% from an unusual spike in activity in the Sept Quarter last year, but also down -11.4% on a rolling 4 quarter basis. Residential Activity is down -1% for the quarter but is 5.4% higher than the same quarter last year and on a rolling 4 quarter average is up 1.3%. NSW continues to show strong levels of residential activity up 0.8% for the quarter and up 2.1% on a rolling 4 quarter basis, and Victoria showed the largest decline for the quarter down -3.9%, but still with a strong 4 quarter rolling increase of 9.9%. Queensland continues to show declines with -1.8% drop in activity on last quarter and a -1.6% decline on the 4 quarter rolling basis. Non Residential Construction activity is down -2.4% in the quarter but up 2.3% on the same quarter last year and 8.6% higher on a rolling 12 month average. Again Queensland is feeling the brunt of the lower activity down -1.8% on the 4 quarter rolling basis.