MARCH KEY FIGURES

		Mar qtr 16	Dec qtr 15 to Mar qtr 16	Mar qtr 15 to Mar qtr 16
		$m	% change	% change
TREND ESTIMATES(a)
Value of work done
	Building	25 092.3	0.9	3.8
	Residential	16 578.4	2.2	8.7
	Non-residential	8 522.4	-1.6	-4.4
	Engineering	22 894.9	-6.5	-16.7
	Total construction	47 875.6	-3.0	-7.3
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES(a)
Value of work done
	Building	24 918.7	-1.0	1.0
	Residential	16 550.2	1.5	5.7
	Non-residential	8 368.6	-5.5	-7.2
	Engineering	23 010.0	-4.2	-13.7
	Total construction	47 928.8	-2.6	-6.7
(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

MARCH KEY POINTS


VALUE OF WORK DONE, CHAIN VOLUME MEASURES

TOTAL CONSTRUCTION

• The trend estimate for total construction work done fell 3.0% in the March quarter 2016.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for total construction work done fell 2.6% to $47,928.8m in the March quarter.

BUILDING WORK DONE

• The trend estimate for total building work done rose 0.9% in the March quarter.
• The trend estimate for non-residential building work done fell 1.6% and residential building work rose 2.2%.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate of total building work done fell 1.0% to $24,918.7m in the March quarter.

ENGINEERING WORK DONE

• The trend estimate for engineering work done fell 6.5% in the March quarter.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for engineering work done fell 4.2% to $23,010.0m in the March quarter.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
June 2016	24 August 2016
September 2016	23 November 2016
December 2016	22 February 2017
March 2017	24 May 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 29 June 2016 and in Building Activity, Australia (cat.no. 8752.0) on 13 July 2016.


DATA NOTES

This release includes revisions to both the Building Activity and Engineering Construction Survey. Building Activity data and Engineering Construction data have been revised back to September 2011.

The revisions to Building Activity data and Engineering Construction data will subsequently cause revisions in the Private Gross Fixed Capital Formation series of the National Accounts. The first publication in which the data will appear is the 2015-16 annual edition of the Australian System of National Accounts (cat no. 5204.0), before being updated in the September 2016 edition of the Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product (cat no. 5206.0).

Chain volume estimates of Engineering Construction work done in the ACT have not been released for September 2015, December 2015 and March 2016. 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.


INQUIRIES

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