Welcome to the Building Industry Bulletin

The quarterly building industry bulletin aims to provide updates on the latest trends within the Queensland building industry as relevant to the activities of the Department of Public Works.
NIEIR Queensland regional construction activity update

The latest report from the National Institute of Economic and Industry Research (NIEIR) estimates total Queensland construction activity was $5,472M (in 2002/2003 prices) at September quarter 2004. This was a 3% increase from June quarter 2004 and represented a level of activity consistent with that produced in December quarter 2003. NIEIR projects that although the rate of increase in new dwelling costs is continuing to decline, further growth in non-residential costs will ensure that for the next few quarters the annualised growth in real total Queensland construction costs will remain high at between 2 and 4% per quarter.
[ View the full report ]
DPW Contractor Survey

Once again there has been little shift in the reported difficulties employing sub-contractors with 60% of respondents in February 2005 indicating they were experiencing difficulties compared to 63% in October 2004 and 65% in June 2004. The most acute shortages were reported in the Fitzroy, South West, Darling Downs, Northern and Far North regions with over two thirds of respondents in these areas experiencing difficulties. Whilst there has been an increase in the proportion of respondents reporting difficulties employing sub-contractors in the areas of concreting, plumbing and joinery, shortages in the areas of wall and floor tilers and bricklayers have remained approximately the same.
[ View the full report ] DPW Tender Activity

Although the total number of projects that went to tender doubled from September to December quarter, the ongoing high level of activity in the non-residential building sector continued to impact the number of tenderers per project. The average number of tenderers in December quarter dropped to just below three per project, representing a decline of 31% from the same quarter in 2003.
[ View the table ] Building Materials Cost Comparison

The cost of building materials in Queensland remained stable between September and December quarter with no price increase in those materials monitored by the Department. According to Reed Construction Data the largest increases in material costs during the last 12 months have been in face bricks (Settler Range) (17.53%), 25mpa concrete (6.11%) and 200mm standard concrete block (5.19%).
[ View the full table ]