Value data
The value of building work includes site preparation costs but excludes the value of land and landscaping. This may be an actual value (for completed work), or an anticipated value (for work yet to be completed). It is intended to be the final contract price or market value of the job when completed, or the best estimate of this quantity available.
Statistics on the value of building work (current prices) show residential building on a GST inclusive basis and non-residential building on a GST exclusive basis. This approach is consistent with that adopted in the Australian National Accounts which is based on the conceptual framework described in the 2008 edition of the international statistical standard System of National Accounts (SNA08).
SNA08 requires value added taxes (VAT), such as the GST, to be recorded on a net basis where:
- (a) both outputs of goods and services and imports are valued excluding invoiced VAT
- (b) purchases of goods and services are recorded including non-deductible VAT.
Under the net system, VAT is recorded as being payable by purchasers, not sellers, and then only by those purchasers who are not able to deduct it. Almost all VAT is therefore recorded in the SNA08 as being paid on final uses - mainly on household consumption. Small amounts of VAT, may however, be paid by businesses in respect of certain kinds of purchases on which VAT may not be deductible.
Within building activity statistics, purchasers of residential structures are unable to deduct GST from the purchase price. For non-residential structures, the reverse is true. While the ABS collects all building activity data on a GST inclusive basis, it publishes value data inclusive of GST in respect of residential construction and exclusive of GST in respect of non-residential construction.
It is appropriate to add the residential and non-residential components to derive total building activity. Valuation of the components of the total is consistent, since, for both components, the value data is recorded inclusive of non-deductible GST paid by the purchaser. As such, total building activity includes the non-deductible GST payable on residential building.