Australian Total Construction Falls in 1Q

The total value of construction in Australia, including residential building and engineering work, during the first quarter of this year fell by 0.7% from the fourth quarter of 2016, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday.

The value of construction fell by 7.2% in the first quarter from a year earlier.

Construction activity is at a crosss roads with a lengthy housing construction boom starting at a peak, and expected to decline in the coming year.

Meanwhile, a prolonged downturn in mining investment is expected to bottom out in coming quarters, removing a stiff headwinds to growth in the economy.

State and federal government are also rolling out large infrastructure projects in roads and rail, adding some pep to the economy.

Construction is a building block of GDP data which will be released next week. A slowdown in consumer demand, the impact of a cyclone on coal exports from Queensland, and a slowdown in home building activity, especially apartments, have some economists worried that the economy might have slowed sharply in the quarter.

-Write to James Glynn at james.glynn@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 23, 2017 21:50 ET (01:50 GMT)