Building activity in Australia experienced a small decline in the June quarter, with the total number of dwellings commenced falling by 1.1% to 40,293 in seasonally adjusted terms.
This drop was primarily driven by a significant 7.4% fall in new private sector “other residential” commencements, which contrasts with the 1.4% rise in the previous quarter.
However, new private sector house commencements saw an increase of 1.7%, totaling 25,732 dwellings.
A total of 221,533 dwellings were under construction during the June quarter, with new houses accounting for 88,235 of these.
While the overall construction activity slowed slightly, completions saw positive growth, with 44,853 dwellings completed in seasonally adjusted terms.
Private new houses made up a large share of this, with 28,228 completed dwellings, an 11.4% increase compared to the March quarter. Other residential completions rose modestly by 0.4%.
ABS figures showed that the total value of building work completed in the June quarter decreased by 0.2%, amounting to $34 billion. This slight drop was driven by a 0.4% reduction in the value of new residential building work, which totaled $17.1bn.
Despite this, work on residential alterations and additions increased by 0.6%, reaching $2.8bn.
Non-residential building work also saw a small dip of 0.2%, though it remained 0.4% higher over the past year.
Despite the decline in overall building activity, private new house commencements and completions showed resilience.
These increases suggest that while the “other residential” category may be facing challenges, house-building activity continues to hold steady, contributing to Australia's broader construction landscape, ABS reported.
Read the ABS media release.
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