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Private New Capital Expenditure and Expected Expenditure, Australia

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Quarterly statistics about actual and expected private new capex investment spend on buildings and equipment by industry

Reference period
December 2020
Released
25/02/2021

Key statistics

  • Total new capital expenditure rose by 3.0%.
  • Buildings and structures rose by 0.7%.
  • Equipment, plant and machinery rose by 5.7%.
  • Estimate 1 for 2021-22 is $105,487m. This is 3.4% lower than Estimate 1 for 2020-21.
  Dec Qtr 20Sep Qtr 20 to Dec Qtr 20Dec Qtr 19 to Dec Qtr 20
  $m% change% change
Seasonally adjusted(a)   
 Total new capital expenditure

29 385

3.0

-7.5

 Buildings and structures

15 461

0.7

-9.4

 Equipment, plant and machinery

13 924

5.7

-5.2

a. In volume terms
 

Survey changes

Data file changes

The data files are being restructured to include additional information. To learn more please read changes to New capital expenditure data files.

Changes to December quarter 2020

There are a number of changes to Capital Expenditure data for the December quarter 2020 publication. These changes were described in the September quarter 2020 publication and include:

  • publishing seasonally adjusted chain volume estimates for Education and Training (ANZSIC Division P) and Health Care and Social Assistance (ANZSIC Division Q) for the first time
  • current price original estimates of Education and Training, and Health Care and Social Assistance will no longer be published separately as experimental estimates and are now integrated with all other industries and appear in all relevant totals
  • the broad industry groups will be changed from Mining, Manufacturing and Other Selected Industries; to Mining and Non-Mining

Update to seasonal adjustment methods

New Capital Expenditure uses the concurrent seasonal adjustment method, meaning that seasonal factors are re-estimated each time a new data point becomes available. If not appropriately accounted for, unusual real-world events such as COVID-19 can distort estimates calculated using this method.

From September quarter 2020 for selected series, seasonal factors will be calculated using data up to and including March quarter 2020, then projected from June quarter 2020 onwards. This approach, known as the forward factor method, ensures that the seasonal factors are not distorted for industries affected by COVID-19 impacts. Switching to the forward factor method may result in revisions in seasonal data for future quarters when the concurrent seasonal adjustment method is reinstated.

Suspension of trend series

The trend series attempts to measure underlying behaviour in business activity. In the short term, this measurement will be significantly affected by changes to regular patterns in spending that will occur during this time, as certain businesses are restricted from trading for example. If the trend estimates in this publication were to be calculated without fully accounting for this irregular event, they would likely provide a misleading view of underlying business activity.

It may be some time before the underlying trend in business activity can be accurately estimated. The New Capital Expenditure trend series have therefore been suspended and will be reinstated when more certainty emerges in the underlying trend in business activity.

New capital expenditure in seasonally adjusted volume terms

Total capital expenditure

  • Total new capital expenditure rose 3.0% in the December quarter 2020.
     

Buildings and structures

  • Buildings and structures rose 0.7% in the December quarter 2020.
     

Equipment and machinery

  • Equipment, plant and machinery rose 5.7% in the December quarter 2020.
     

Mining and non-mining

  • Mining fell 1.4% in the December quarter 2020.
  • Non-mining rose 4.9% in the December quarter 2020.

Financial years at current prices

Timing and composition

The graphs below show the seven estimates of actual and expected expenditure for each financial year.

The timing and composition of these estimates are as follows:

Estimate Based on data reported at:COMPOSITION OF ESTIMATE
Data on long-term expected expenditureData on Short-term expected expenditureData on actual expenditure
1.Jan-Feb, 5-6 months before period begins12 monthsNilNil
2.Apr-May, 2-3 months before period begins12 monthsNilNil
3.Jul-Aug, at beginning of period6 months6 monthsNil
4.Oct-Nov, 3-4 months into period6 months3 months3 months
5.Jan-Feb, 6-7 months into periodNil6 months6 months
6.Apr-May, 9-10 months into periodNil3 months9 months
7.Jul-Aug, at end of periodNilNil12 months

 

 

Total capital expenditure

  • Estimate 5 for 2020-21 is $121,428m.
  • This is 4.8% higher than Estimate 4 for 2020-21.
  • Estimate 1 for 2021-22 is $105,487m.
  • This is 3.4% lower than Estimate 1 for 2020-21.
     

Buildings and structures

  • Estimate 5 for 2020-21 is $67,904m.
  • This is 1.3% higher than Estimate 4 for 2020-21.
  • Estimate 1 for 2021-22 is $66,381m.
  • This is 2.0% lower than Estimate 1 for 2020-21.

Equipment, plant and machinery

  • Estimate 5 for 2020-21 is $53,523m.
  • This is 9.7% higher than Estimate 4 for 2020-21.
  • Estimate 1 for 2021-22 is $39,106m.
  • This is 5.7% lower than Estimate 1 for 2020-21.

Mining

  • Estimate 5 for 2020-21 is $36,593m.
  • This is relatively unchanged from Estimate 4.
  • Estimate 1 for 2021-22 is $36,305m.
  • This is 5.6% lower than Estimate 1 for 2020-21.

Non-mining

  • Estimate 5 for 2020-21 is $84,835m.
  • This is 7.1% higher than Estimate 4 for 2020-21.
  • Estimate 1 for 2021-22 is $69,182m.
  • This is 2.2% lower than Estimate 1 for 2020-21.

Detailed industry movements by asset type

Industry chain volume seasonally adjusted total capex
Sep Qtr 20 to Dec Qtr 20Dec Qtr 19 to Dec Qtr 20
% change% change
Mining-1.4-1.2
Manufacturing1.32.6
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste-7.1-18.7
Construction14.68.3
Wholesale Trade0.87.9
Retail Trade2.9-7.2
Accomodation and Food Services34.0-16.1
Transport, Postal and Warehousing18.9-20.1
Information Media and Telecommunications9.4-3.2
Financial and Insurance Services-12.6-18.4
Rental, Hiring and Real Estate2.2-24.9
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services2.55.2
Administrative and Support Services15.845.8
Education and Training-5.4-4.0
Health Care and Social Assistance8.2-8.4
Arts and Recreation Services-13.8-55.1
Other Services10.143.1
Industry chain volume buildings and structures
Sep Qtr 20 to Dec Qtr 20Dec Qtr 19 to Dec Qtr 20
% change% change
Mining0.42.2
Manufacturing-3.65.9
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste-4.8-18.6
Construction-17.7-10.5
Wholesale Trade-32.48.1
Retail Trade7.0-32.2
Accomodation and Food Services65.3-19.8
Transport, Postal and Warehousing-3.1-23.5
Information Media and Telecommunications10.91.9
Financial and Insurance Services-42.8-37.1
Rental, Hiring and Real Estate-1.0-24.5
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services37.121.4
Administrative and Support Services126.774.4
Education and Training0.51.4
Health Care and Social Assistance9.2-16.8
Arts and Recreation Services-23.2-51.9
Other Services10.593.0
Industry chain volume equipment and machinery
Sep Qtr 20 to Dec Qtr 20Dec Qtr 19 to Dec Qtr 20
% change% change
Mining-5.9-9.1
Manufacturing3.01.7
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste-20.7-19.4
Construction16.19.1
Wholesale Trade9.77.8
Retail Trade1.48.1
Accomodation and Food Services18.4-13.8
Transport, Postal and Warehousing42.5-17.4
Information Media and Telecommunications4.4-17.9
Financial and Insurance Services-4.2-14.4
Rental, Hiring and Real Estate9.6-25.7
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services-2.62.3
Administrative and Support Services5.040.2
Education and Training-20.9-18.5
Health Care and Social Assistance7.15.4
Arts and Recreation Services1.5-58.3
Other Services10.031.2

State movements

State chain volume seasonally adjusted total capex
Sep Qtr 20 to Dec Qtr 20Dec Qtr 19 to Dec Qtr 20
% change% change
New South Wales8.1-7.1
Victoria4.3-15.3
Queensland-4.6-14.5
South Australia0.7-1.0
Western Australia-0.64.7
Tasmania17.210.2
Northern Territory32.2-10.4
Australian Capital Territory-10.4-17.9

Data downloads

Data file changes

To see a comparison between the current and past formats view the concordance file within the data downloads below. 

The data files are being restructured to include additional information. To learn more please read changes to new capital expenditure data files.

Data downloads

Data files
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