DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

		Dec Qtr 18	Sep Qtr 18 to Dec Qtr 18	Dec Qtr 17 to Dec Qtr 18
		$m	% change	% change
Trend estimates(a)
	Total new capital expenditure	29 965	1.3	1.2
	Buildings and structures	15 948	1.2	-3.8
	Equipment, plant and machinery	14 029	1.5	7.6
Seasonally adjusted(a)
	Total new capital expenditure	30 093	2.0	1.9
	Buildings and structures	16 074	3.2	-2.9
	Equipment, plant and machinery	14 019	0.7	8.1
(a) In volume terms

New Capital Expenditure, in volume terms

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


ACTUAL EXPENDITURE (VOLUME TERMS)

• The trend volume estimate for total new capital expenditure rose by 1.3% in the December quarter 2018 while the seasonally adjusted estimate rose by 2.0%.
• The trend volume estimate for buildings and structures rose by 1.2% in the December quarter 2018 while the seasonally adjusted estimate rose by 3.2%.
• The trend volume estimate for equipment, plant and machinery rose by 1.5% in the December quarter 2018 while the seasonally adjusted estimate rose by 0.7%.

EXPECTED EXPENDITURE (CURRENT PRICE TERMS)

• This issue includes the fifth estimate (Estimate 5) for 2018 -19 and the first estimate (Estimate 1) for 2019-20.
• Estimate 5 for 2018-19 is $118,361m. This is 3.6% higher than Estimate 5 for 2017-18. Estimate 5 is 4.0% higher than Estimate 4 for 2018-19.
• Estimate 1 for 2019- 20 is $92,144m. This is 11.0% higher than Estimate 1 for 2018-19.
• See pages 7-10 for further commentary on expectations data.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
March 2019	30 May 2019
June 2019	29 August 2019
September 2019	28 November 2019
December 2019	27 February 2020

CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

As with each December quarter, this issue includes expected capital expenditure by state. These data are available from the Downloads tab of this issue on the ABS website.


NOTES IN THIS ISSUE

The Survey of New Capital Expenditure contains estimates of actual and expected new capital expenditure by private businesses. Users should be aware that there are occasions where projects may change ownership during the construction phase from public to private sector. On these occasions the new capital expenditure associated with such projects will be reflected in the appropriate sector effective from the time of the ownership change. The buildings and structures series is impacted by a sectoral change in the current quarter.

The ABS intends to cease publishing a PDF as part of the release of Private New Capital Expenditure and Expected Expenditure, Australia (ABS cat. no. 5625.0). All of the information that is contained in the PDF will continue to be available elsewhere in this release. The March quarter 2019 issue, released in May 2019, is expected to be the final release with a PDF. Should you have any concerns regarding this transition, please contact us at client.services@abs.gov.au.


DATA 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.


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