MARCH KEY FIGURES

	Mar qtr 10	Dec qtr 09 to Mar qtr 10	Mar qtr 09 to Mar qtr 10
	$m	% change	% change
TREND ESTIMATES(a)
Value of Work Done	19 824.9	4.1	5.6
New residential building	9 096.1	0.7	1.2
Alterations and additions to residential building	1 618.2	3.1	1.2
Non-residential building	9 074.1	7.4	10.9
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES(a)
Value of Work Done	20 055.3	5.2	6.1
New residential building	9 116.4	1.6	3.0
Alterations and additions to residential building	1 621.6	2.5	-1.1
Non-residential building	9 317.4	9.4	10.8
(a) Chain volume measures, reference year 2007-08.

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

TOTAL BUILDING

• The trend estimate of the value of total building work done rose 4.1% in the March 2010 quarter.
• The seasonally adjusted March quarter estimate of the value of total building work done rose 5.2%, to $20,055.3m, following a rise of 4.7% in the December 2009 quarter.

NEW RESIDENTIAL

• The trend estimate of the value of new residential building work done rose 0.7% in the latest quarter, with new houses rising 1.2% and new other residential building falling 0.4%. Alterations and additions to residential building rose 3.1%.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate of the value of new residential building work done rose 1.6% to $9,116.4m. Work done on new houses fell 0.4% to $6,309.3m, while new other residential building rose 6.6% to $2,807.1m. Alterations and additions rose 2.5% to $1,621.6m.

NON-RESIDENTIAL

• The trend estimate of the value of non-residential building work done rose 7.4% in the March quarter. However, the trend estimate of the value of non-residential building work done should be interpreted with caution. 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 rose 9.4%, following a 11.5% rise in the December quarter.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
June 2010	13 October 2010
September 2010	19 January 2011

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

This publication updates the preliminary estimates released in Construction Work Done, Australia (cat. no. 8755.0) on 26 May 2010, and Dwelling Unit Commencements, Australia (cat. no. 8750.0) on 16 June 2010. The data in this publication are based on a response rate of approximately 96% 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 2010 will be released in Building Activity, Australia (cat. no. 8752.0) on 13 October 2010.


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

There are no changes in this issue.


DATA NOTES

The trend estimates should be interpreted with caution as the underlying behaviour of building activity may be affected by initiatives within the Government stimulus package, which included the "Building the Education Revolution" (BER) program and the Social Housing Initiative as well as other developments associated with global economic conditions. As with the publication Construction Work Done, Australia (cat. no. 8755.0) BER impacts have been quantified and removed from the trend estimates because of its short term nature. For more details on trend estimates, please see paragraphs 28 to 30 of the explanatory notes.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Willie Hynd on Adelaide (08) 8237 7645.