MARCH KEY FIGURES

		Mar qtr 11	Dec qtr 10 to Mar qtr 11	Mar qtr 10 to Mar qtr 11
		$m	% change	% change
TREND ESTIMATES(a)
Value of work done
	Building	20 055.6	-3.9	-4.7
	Residential	11 764.1	-0.5	2.2
	Non-residential	8 333.4	-7.9	-12.7
	Engineering	21 993.8	3.9	13.8
	Total construction	42 163.1	0.3	4.4
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES(a)
Value of work done
	Building	20 023.9	-3.4	-4.8
	Residential	11 930.7	1.9	5.4
	Non-residential	8 093.2	-10.2	-16.6
	Engineering	22 302.7	4.6	15.5
	Total construction	42 326.6	0.7	4.9
(a) Chain volume measures, reference year 2008-09.

Value of construction work done, Chain volume measures - Trend estimates

Value of building work done, Chain volume measures - Trend estimates

MARCH KEY POINTS


VALUE OF WORK DONE, CHAIN VOLUME MEASURES

TOTAL CONSTRUCTION

• The trend estimate for total construction work done rose 0.3% in the March quarter 2011.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for total construction work done rose 0.7%, to $42,326.6m, in the March quarter.

BUILDING WORK DONE

• The trend estimate for total building work done fell 3.9% in the March quarter 2011.
• The trend estimate for non-residential building work done fell 7.9% in the March quarter.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate of total building work done fell 3.4%, to $20,023.9m, in the March quarter.

ENGINEERING WORK DONE

• The trend estimate for engineering work done rose 3.9% in the March quarter 2011.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for engineering work done rose 4.6%, to $22,302.7m, in the March quarter.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
June 2011	24 August 2011
September 2011	23 November 2011

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 80% 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 6 July 2011 and in Building Activity, Australia (cat. no. 8752.0) on 20 July 2011.


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

There are no changes in this issue.


DATA NOTES

Widespread flooding in the eastern states, particularly Queensland, and other natural disasters have not adversely affected the quality of estimates in this release. However, these events may have had an impact on the level of construction activity in the March quarter of 2011.

The trend estimates should be interpreted with caution as the underlying behaviour of building activity may be affected by Government stimulus packages, including the "Building the Education Revolution" (BER) program and Social Housing Initiatives as well as other developments associated with global economic conditions. For more details on trend estimates, please see paragraphs 24 to 26 of the explanatory notes.


INQUIRIES

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