June quarter construction figures showed a rise of 1.6%, up from the March quarter’s fall of 2.0%. The positive result was a surprise to financial markets where the expectation was for 1.5% fall. WA’s mining sector, in particular the construction of the Roy Hill iron ore mine and the Gorgon LNG projects, was responsible for the surprise result. Westpac, however, feels the activity is unsustainable and there is speculation the figures are partly the result of construction at Roy Hill making up for previously lost time. Nationally, the building, residential, non-residential segments were all negative but the 5.6% increase in the engineering segment more than offset these other segments. There was little reaction to the release with attention still focussed on Chinese and US share markets.
