MARCH KEY FIGURES

		Mar qtr 18	Dec qtr 17 to Mar qtr 18	Mar qtr 17 to Mar qtr 18
		$m	% change	% change
TREND ESTIMATES(a)
Value of work done
	Building	28 320.6	0.2	1.7
	Residential	17 989.3	-0.4	-2.5
	Non-residential	10 320.4	1.0	9.8
	Engineering	23 059.2	2.8	11.8
	Total construction	51 423.9	1.4	6.1
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES(a)
Value of work done
	Building	28 203.1	-0.7	1.0
	Residential	18 052.6	0.4	-1.3
	Non-residential	10 150.5	-2.6	5.4
	Engineering	23 008.4	1.5	10.3
	Total construction	51 211.5	0.2	5.0
(a) Reference year for Chain Volume Measures is 2015-16.

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 1.4% in the March quarter 2018.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for total construction work done rose 0.2% to $51,211.5m in the March quarter.

BUILDING WORK DONE

• The trend estimate for total building work done rose 0.2% in the March quarter.
• The trend estimate for non-residential building work rose 1.0% and residential building work fell 0.4%.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate of total building work done fell 0.7% to $28,203.1m in the March quarter.

ENGINEERING WORK DONE

• The trend estimate for engineering work done rose 2.8% in the March quarter.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for engineering work done rose 1.5% to $23,008.4m in the March quarter.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
June 2018	22 August 2018
September 2018	28 November 2018
December 2018	27 February 2019
March 2019	22 May 2019

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 27 June 2018 and in Building Activity, Australia (cat.no. 8752.0) on 11 July 2018.


DATA NOTES

This release includes revisions to both the Building Activity and Engineering Construction Survey. Building Activity data have been revised back to March 2013 and Engineering Construction data have been revised back to September 2015.

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.