NOTE! Use caution interpreting building trend estimates. See Notes on page 2 of the publication.


SEPTEMBER KEY FIGURES

		Sep qtr 09	Jun qtr 09 to Sep qtr 09	Sep qtr 08 to Sep qtr 09
		$m	% change	% change
TREND ESTIMATES(a)
Value of work done
	Building	18 378.7	-1.0	-5.5
	Residential	10 397.1	-0.4	-6.3
	Non-residential	7 990.0	-1.5	-4.4
	Engineering	20 855.1	4.1	19.4
	Total construction	39 282.5	1.8	6.4
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES(a)
Value of work done
	Building	18 675.7	2.6	-4.0
	Residential	10 594.0	2.8	-5.0
	Non-residential	8 081.7	2.3	-2.6
	Engineering	20 956.5	1.8	18.9
	Total construction	39 632.2	2.2	6.9
(a) Chain volume measures, reference year 2007-08.

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

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

SEPTEMBER KEY POINTS


VALUE OF WORK DONE, CHAIN VOLUME MEASURES

TOTAL CONSTRUCTION

• The trend estimate for total construction work done rose 1.8% in the September quarter 2009.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for total construction work done rose 2.2%, to $39,632.2m, in the September quarter, and now shows a rise of 4.5% in the June quarter.

BUILDING

• The trend estimate for total and non-residential building work done and should be interpreted with caution. See the data notes on page 2 of this publication. Residential building work done fell 0.4%.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate of building work done rose 2.6% to $18,675.7m, in the September quarter. Residential building rose 2.8% to $10,594.0m and non-residential building rose 2.3%, to $8,081.7m.

ENGINEERING

• The trend estimate for Engineering work done rose 4.1% in the latest quarter.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for Engineering work done rose 1.8%, to $20,956.5m, in the September quarter.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
December 2009	24 February 2010
March 2010	26 May 2010

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 14 January 2010 and in Building Activity, Australia (cat. no. 8752.0) on 20 January 2010.


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

A new base year, 2007-08, has been introduced into the chain volume estimates which has resulted in revisions to growth rates in subsequent periods. In addition, the chain volume estimates have been re-referenced to 2007-08, thereby preserving additivity in the quarters after the reference year. Re-referencing affects the levels of, but not the movements in, chain volume estimates.


DATA NOTES

Commencing with the September 2009 issue of publication Building Activity, Australia, (cat. no 8752.0) the Time Series Electronic Tables 78 and 79 containing value of non-residential building work done and commenced, states and territories (old building classification) will no longer be available on the ABS web site. A concordance between the 1986 Functional Classification of Buildings (FCB) and the 1999 FCB is available in the classification manual - ABS Functional Classification of Buildings, 1999 (cat. no. 1268.0.55.001).

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 Building Approvals, Australia, (cat. no 8731.0) 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 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 or Paul Pamment on Adelaide (08) 8237 7647.