December key figures
Value of work done, chain volume measures
| Dec qtr 19 | Sep qtr 19 to Dec qtr 19 | Dec qtr 18 to Dec qtr 19 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| $m | % change | % change | |
| Trend estimates(a) | |||
| Value of work done | 29 185.3 | -2.1 | -6.3 |
| New residential building | 15 329.2 | -4.3 | -13.5 |
| Alterations and additions to residential building | 2 225.5 | -0.3 | -4.8 |
| Non-residential building | 11 627.4 | 0.6 | 4.7 |
| Seasonally adjusted estimates(a) | |||
| Value of work done | 28 900.5 | -4.7 | -7.3 |
| New residential building | 15 190.6 | -5.9 | -14.4 |
| Alterations and additions to residential building | 2 214.0 | -2.0 | -5.4 |
| Non-residential building | 11 495.9 | -3.6 | 3.7 |
a. Reference year for chain volume measures is 2017-18
Building work done
- The trend estimate of the value of total building work done fell 2.1% in the December quarter.
- The seasonally adjusted estimate of the value of total building work done fell 4.7% to $28,900.5m following a rise of 1.6% in the September quarter.
​​​​​​​New residential building work done
- The trend estimate of the value of new residential building work done fell 4.3% in the December quarter. The value of work done on new houses fell 4.0%, while new other residential building fell 4.6%.
- The seasonally adjusted estimate of the value of new residential building work done fell 5.9% to $15,190.6m. Work done on new houses fell 5.9% to $8,373.3m, while new other residential building fell 5.9% to $6,817.3m.
Non-residential work done
- The trend estimate of the value of non-residential building work done rose 0.6% in the December quarter.
- The seasonally adjusted estimate of the value of non-residential building work done in the quarter fell 3.6% following a rise of 8.2% in the September quarter.
Dwelling units commenced
| Dec qtr 19 | Sep qtr 19 to Dec qtr 19 | Dec qtr 18 to Dec qtr 19 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| no. | % change | % change | |
| Trend estimates | |||
| Total dwelling units commenced | 41 092 | -3.5 | -18.0 |
| New private sector houses | 24 400 | -3.5 | -13.7 |
| New private sector other residential building | 15 896 | -3.8 | -24.2 |
| Seasonally adjusted estimates | |||
| Total dwelling units commenced | 41 612 | 1.2 | -15.2 |
| New private sector houses | 24 931 | 0.0 | -8.8 |
| New private sector other residential building | 16 002 | 4.7 | -22.1 |
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
Total dwellings
- The trend estimate for the total number of dwelling units commenced fell 3.5% in the December quarter following a fall of 3.8% in the September quarter.
- The seasonally adjusted estimate for the total number of dwelling units commenced rose 1.2% to 41,612 dwellings in the December quarter following a fall of 10.7% in the September quarter.
New private sector houses
- The trend estimate for new private sector house commencements fell 3.5% in the December quarter following a fall of 3.7% in the September quarter.
- The seasonally adjusted estimate for new private sector house commencements was flat in the December quarter following a fall of 3.4% in the September quarter.
New private sector other residential building
- The trend estimate for new private sector other residential building commencements fell 3.8% in the December quarter following a fall of 3.9% in the September quarter.
- The seasonally adjusted estimate for new private sector other residential building rose 4.7% to 16,002 dwellings in the December quarter following a fall of 21.4% in the September quarter.
Changes this issue
This publication contains feature articles and associated data cubes relating to:
- Characteristics of apartment building heights
- Characteristics of new residential dwellings
Significant revisions this issue
Compared to the estimate published in Building Activity, Australia September 2019 (cat. no. 8752.0) released on 15 January 2020:
- the total value of work done in Australia during the September 2019 quarter has been revised upwards by $980.5m or 3.1%.
- the total value of work commenced in Australia during the September 2019 quarter has been revised upwards $1,439.1m or 4.8%. This was driven by an upward revision to total residential commencements of $164.2m (1.0%), and an upward revision to total non-residential commencements of $1,274.9m (9.8%).
- the number of dwelling unit commencements in the September 2019 quarter has been revised upwards by 349 dwellings or 0.8%.
Data note
Several time series spreadsheets contain 'np' (not available for publication) annotations from the September quarter 2012 onwards. This is due to confidential data being contained in these series.
Bushfires and Coronavirus (COVID-19)
The recent bushfire events and COVID-19 did not result in significant impacts to Building Activity statistics in December 2019. Whilst it is expected that bushfire rebuilding and recovery activity will have some impact on future Building Activity, this activity is not yet present in the December estimates. The ABS is monitoring for anticipated impacts from COVID-19 on Building Activity statistics in future quarters.
Inquiries
For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070. The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to us.