Private new capital expenditure on buildings and structures in Australia fell by 3.8% quarter-on-quarter in Q1 2026, reversing an upwardly revised 2.5% increase in Q4 2025, which had been the strongest growth since Q2 2023. This was the first contraction since Q2 2024, with declines recorded in both non-mining (-4.3%) and mining (-2.9%) industries.
By industry, spending on buildings and structures recorded the largest falls in construction (-35.8%), manufacturing (-25.1%), professional, scientific and technical services (-19.5%), rental, hiring and real estate services (-11.6%), and electricity, gas, water and waste services (-8.5%).
“The fall in buildings and structures was driven by large projects reaching completion, particularly across manufacturing, electricity, gas, water and waste services, and mining. Despite the overall fall, investment in data centre building construction continues to grow, with information media and telecommunications rising for the seventh consecutive quarter, up 12.6%,” ABS head of business statistics Tom Lay said.
