Construction Statistics & Building Data [2024+]

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Whether you may realise it or not, Construction plays a huge part in the Australian economy and is one of the largest sectors. Here are some construction stats which may shock you

Value of Building Approvals in NSW March 2022-Feb 2023+

Value’s Expressed in ($AUD, ‘000 where total value for March 2022 is over $4 Billion)

Total value of building jobs ;  New South Wales ;  Total Residential ;  New ;Total value of building jobs ;  New South Wales ;  Total Residential ;  Alterations and additions including conversions ;Total value of building jobs ;  New South Wales ;  Total Residential ;  Total Work ;Total value of building jobs ;  New South Wales ;  Total Non-residential ;  Total Work ;Total value of building jobs ;  New South Wales ;  Total (Type of Building) ;  Total Work ;
Mar-20221746784337093208387720040054087882
Apr-20221654881300940195582114667093422531
May-20221878239359072223731118186034055915
Jun-20221784706350785213549115769673712458
Jul-20221708777306008201478610920703106856
Aug-20222319978377145269712318989294596051
Sep-20222463669351590281525810013303816588
Oct-20221689026362522205154813189433370492
Nov-20221665120293384195850521961474154652
Dec-2022210645630160324080599405753348634
Jan-2023880504217507109801111961122294123
Feb-20231299513332565163207922303853862464
Value of Building Approvals for NSW (Source: ABS)

Construction is 8.1% of Australia’s GDP (2015-16)

According to an article by Lendlease, the construction industry in Australia is the largest non-services sector industry and it contributes $134.2 Billion (2015-16) to the economy every year making it one of the largest job creators in the nation.

Only the finance and insurance industry and the mining industry are larger than the construction industry, although some would argue there is a slight crossover between the mining and construction industry as similar machinery is used.

Prefabricated Construction accounts for 3% of all construction work

Prefabricated construction is on the rise in Australia. It now represents 3% of all construction work in the country, meaning that a total of over $2 Billion is being spent on prefabricated construction every year as part of the total $150 Billion industry that is the construction sector in Australia.

Total housing Dwelling Starts Down 21.8% (seasonally adjusted 25.1%) from Mar qtr 18 to Mar qtr 19

According to the ABS, the total of dwelling which began construction to the march 2019 quarter was down to 46,284 which represents a quarterly fall of 7.9% (seasonally adjusted to 5.9%) and a total fall 21.8% (seasonally adjusted 25.1%).

Housing Unit Starts down 36% (seasonally adjusted 41.8%) from Mar qtr 18 to Mar qtr 19

According to the ABS, The total number of non-housing dwellings being constructed (which includes apartments, units & townhouses) was 17,600 in the year to March 2019 quarter where the drop from the March quarter in 2018 to the March quarter in 2019 was a whopping -36%.

Taking the seasonally adjusted data, the total number of other residential dwellings goes down to 17,200 but represents and even larger -41.8%. This has occurred due to a large pullback of apartments being commenced in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane & the Gold Coast.

$49.1 Billion worth of building work completed in the June 2019 Quarter

A total of $49.1 Billion worth of construction activity in Australia which includes the Building, residential, non-residential & engineering sectors, as published by the ABS

This represents a YoY contraction of the building & construction sector by – 9.4%, however, if the data is seasonally adjusted then the drop increases to -11.1%.

In July 2020, 13,840 Dwellings were approved for construction

According to the ABS Data for July 2020, a total of 13,840 dwellings were approved for construction in the month.

Breaking this down further, this consisted of:

  • 8,852 Houses
  • 4,684 Dwellings which are not houses (a mix of apartments, etc)