Construction expenditure increased rapidly in Australia in the early part of this decade. A large portion of the increase came from the commissioning of new liquid natural gas projects and the expansion of existing mining projects to exploit a tripling in price of Australia’s mining exports in the previous decade. The return to “normal” investment levels is still continuing.
According to the latest construction figures published by the ABS, the value of construction work has fallen for a fourth consecutive quarter. Total construction in the June quarter fell by 3.8%, which is less than the 1.0% contraction expected and slightly less than the revised 2.2% fall in the March quarter. On an annual basis, the growth rate deteriorated from March’s revised figure of -6.1% to -11.1%.
Westpac senior economist Andrew Hanlon described the figures as “a material negative for Q2 [June quarter] GDP.”
