MARCH KEY FIGURES

	Mar qtr 12	Dec qtr 11 to Mar qtr 12	Mar qtr 11 to Mar qtr 12
	$m	% change	% change
TREND ESTIMATES(a)
Value of Work Done	18 857.4	-1.7	-5.7
New residential building	9 270.7	-1.1	-7.1
Alterations and additions to residential building	1 741.3	-3.1	-4.1
Non-residential building	7 854.4	-2.0	-4.3
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES(a)
Value of Work Done	18 693.8	-2.8	-6.6
New residential building	9 286.2	-1.2	-8.7
Alterations and additions to residential building	1 710.2	-5.5	-5.5
Non-residential building	7 697.4	-4.1	-4.3
(a) Chain volume measures, reference year 2009-10.

Value of work done, Chain volume measures

Value of work done, Chain volume measures - Trend estimates

MARCH KEY POINTS


VALUE OF WORK DONE, CHAIN VOLUME MEASURES

BUILDING WORK DONE

• The trend estimate of the value of total building work done fell 1.7% in the March 2012 quarter.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate of the value of total building work done fell 2.8% to $18,693.8m, in the March quarter, following a fall of 2.1% in the December 2011 quarter.

NEW RESIDENTIAL BUILDING WORK DONE

• The trend estimate of the value of new residential building work done fell 1.1% in the March quarter. The value of work done on new houses fell 1.9% while new other residential building rose 0.6%.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate of the value of new residential building work done fell 1.2% to $9,286.2m. Work done on new houses rose 0.2% to $6,140.1m, while new other residential building fell 3.9% to $3,146.1m.

NON-RESIDENTIAL WORK DONE

• The trend estimate of the value of non-residential building work done fell 2.0% in the March quarter. See data notes on page 2 of this publication.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate of the value of non-residential building work done in the quarter fell 4.1%, following a fall of 3.7% in the December 2011 quarter.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
June 2012	17 October 2012
September 2012	17 January 2013

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

This publication updates the preliminary estimates released in Construction Work Done, Australia (cat. no. 8755.0) on 30 May 2012, and Dwelling Unit Commencements, Australia (cat. no. 8750.0) on 20 June 2012. The data in this publication are based on a response rate of approximately 92% 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 March quarter 2012 will be released in the next release of this publication, Building Activity, Australia (cat. no. 8752.0) on 17 October 2012.


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

There are no changes in this issue.


SIGNIFICANT REVISIONS THIS ISSUE

Compared to the estimate published in Building Activity, Australia, December quarter 2011 (cat. no. 8752.0) released on 18 April 2012:

• The total value of commencements in Australia during December quarter 2011 has been revised upwards by $2,591.1m or 15.2%. This was driven by revisions to other residential ($624.1m) and non-residential commencements ($1,739.7m,).

DATA NOTE

The trend estimates should be interpreted with caution as the underlying behaviour of building activity may be affected by Government stimulus packages as well as other developments associated with global economic conditions. For more details on trend estimates, please see paragraphs 28 to 30 of the explanatory notes.

The September quarter 2012 issue of this publication will include revisions to the value of work done, value of work commenced, value of work yet to be done and the value of work under construction series.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.