DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

		Dec qtr 15	Sep qtr 15 to Dec qtr 15	Dec qtr 14 to Dec qtr 15
		$m	% change	% change
TREND ESTIMATES(a)
Value of work done
	Building	24 750.4	1.0	5.8
	Residential	15 890.7	1.4	9.3
	Non-residential	8 859.4	0.3	-
	Engineering	24 449.2	-3.9	-9.3
	Total construction	49 154.5	-1.6	-2.4
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES(a)
Value of work done
	Building	24 990.2	2.7	8.0
	Residential	16 032.3	2.8	11.5
	Non-residential	8 957.8	2.5	2.2
	Engineering	23 423.3	-9.5	-14.7
	Total construction	48 413.4	-3.6	-4.3
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Reference year for Chain Volume Measures is 2013-14.

Value of construction work done, Chain Volume Measures - Trend estimates

Value of building work done, Chain Volume Measures - Trend estimates

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


VALUE OF WORK DONE, CHAIN VOLUME MEASURES

TOTAL CONSTRUCTION

• The trend estimate for total construction work done fell 1.6% in the December quarter 2015.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for total construction work done fell 3.6% to $48,413.4m in the December quarter.

BUILDING WORK DONE

• The trend estimate for total building work done rose 1.0% in the December quarter.
• The trend estimate for non-residential building work done rose 0.3% and residential building work rose 1.4%.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate of total building work done rose 2.7% to $24,990.2m in the December quarter.

ENGINEERING WORK DONE

• The trend estimate for engineering work done fell 3.9% in the December quarter.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for engineering work done fell 9.5% to $23,423.3m in the December quarter.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
March 2016	25 May 2016
June 2016	24 August 2016
September 2016	23 November 2016
December 2016	22 February 2017

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

This publication provides an early indication of trends in building and engineering construction activity. The data are estimates based on a response rate of approximately 85% of the value of both building and engineering work done during the quarter. More comprehensive and updated results will be released in Engineering Construction Activity, Australia (cat. no. 8762.0) on 30 March 2016 and in Building Activity, Australia (cat. no. 8752.0) on 13 April 2016.


DATA NOTES

Chain volume estimates of engineering construction work done in the ACT have not been released for September and December 2015. The ABS produces chain volume estimates to best represent changes in the volume of activity, excluding the impact of price changes; however, the volatility of the current price series for engineering construction work done in the ACT prevent the reliable estimation of chain volume measures. For more information on chain volume measures, see paragraphs 27 to 31 of the explanatory notes.

Trend estimates should be used with caution due to the volatility caused by large engineering projects. For more details on trend estimates, please see paragraphs 24 to 26 of the explanatory 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.

For the March Construction Work Done release each year, the ABS provides additional detail regarding the revisions that have been made to estimates of building and engineering construction activity prior to the previous quarter.


INQUIRIES

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