Australia's June Capex Falls 3.6%

Private new capital expenditure (capex) fell 3.6 per cent in the June quarter 2026 (seasonally adjusted, chain volume measures), according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Tom Lay, ABS head of business statistics, said: "June's fall in investment was the result of a 53.0 per cent drop in spending on information media and telecommunications equipment, after record investment in server racks and processing equipment for data centres saw an increase of 199.6 per cent last quarter."

"Despite the quarterly fall, total capital expenditure remains 10.7 per cent higher than the same time last year."

"Buildings and structures investment rose 2.1 per cent driven by continued activity on data centre construction to expand capacity, as well as commencement of new renewable energy projects this quarter."

Building and equipment, seasonally adjusted, chain volume measures

	Building - Seasonal ($m)	Building - Trend ($m)	Equipment - Seasonal ($m)	Equipment - Trend ($m)
Jun-06	16,399	15,554	14,650	14,960
Sep-06	15,264	15,353	14,910	14,742
Dec-06	14,428	15,295	14,772	14,881
Mar-07	17,679	17,280	15,372	15,487
Jun-07	18,596	17,926	16,154	15,890
Sep-07	17,454	18,314	16,159	16,234
Dec-07	18,805	18,427	16,583	16,623
Mar-08	18,995	18,596	17,048	17,308
Jun-08	18,576	19,305	18,230	18,014
Sep-08	20,504	20,856	18,530	18,205
Dec-08	23,354	22,102	17,696	17,963
Mar-09	21,902	22,197	17,388	17,479
Jun-09	21,451	21,077	17,709	17,421
Sep-09	19,408	20,088	16,968	17,764
Dec-09	19,955	19,935	18,864	18,007
Mar-10	21,014	20,639	17,619	17,643
Jun-10	21,148	21,746	16,943	16,964
Sep-10	23,605	22,714	16,148	16,800
Dec-10	23,317	23,667	17,846	17,546
Mar-11	25,300	25,571	18,794	18,501
Jun-11	27,795	28,395	18,915	19,176
Sep-11	33,334	31,854	19,594	19,467
Dec-11	33,747	35,254	19,654	19,624
Mar-12	38,468	37,905	19,697	19,739
Jun-12	40,024	39,173	19,722	19,932
Sep-12	38,415	38,916	20,262	20,088
Dec-12	37,722	37,651	20,135	19,923
Mar-13	36,798	37,266	19,191	19,491
Jun-13	37,564	37,810	18,862	18,801
Sep-13	39,166	38,282	18,413	18,080
Dec-13	38,044	38,261	16,925	17,356
Mar-14	36,204	37,845	17,237	16,992
Jun-14	37,833	37,531	16,777	17,235
Sep-14	36,967	36,935	18,118	17,756
Dec-14	35,927	35,587	17,989	17,971
Mar-15	33,133	33,561	17,705	17,588
Jun-15	32,109	31,792	16,824	16,800
Sep-15	28,949	29,864	15,900	16,242
Dec-15	29,636	28,611	16,258	16,136
Mar-16	26,803	26,671	16,330	16,350
Jun-16	24,031	24,528	16,624	16,497
Sep-16	22,886	23,086	16,393	16,408
Dec-16	23,013	22,893	16,241	16,258
Mar-17	23,377	23,247	16,143	16,194
Jun-17	23,502	23,631	16,353	16,323
Sep-17	23,958	23,824	16,619	16,676
Dec-17	23,833	23,792	17,052	17,061
Mar-18	23,425	23,483	17,698	17,474
Jun-18	23,161	23,092	17,471	17,884
Sep-18	22,569	22,820	18,594	18,219
Dec-18	23,213	22,950	18,318	18,458
Mar-19	22,610	22,581	18,468	18,499
Jun-19	21,828	22,152	18,503	18,359
Sep-19	22,040	21,705	18,026	18,189
Dec-19	21,035	21,221	18,050	17,896
Mar-20	20,807	20,508	17,670	17,699
Jun-20	19,697	19,691	16,040	17,759
Sep-20	19,040	19,177	16,157	18,072
Dec-20	19,110	19,248	17,369	18,510
Mar-21	19,882	19,868	18,822	18,811
Jun-21	20,840	20,608	18,964	18,928
Sep-21	21,004	21,173	18,940	18,959
Dec-21	21,516	21,413	18,999	19,033
Mar-22	21,574	21,411	19,114	19,180
Jun-22	21,221	21,436	19,502	19,313
Sep-22	21,665	21,730	19,357	19,438
Dec-22	22,548	22,517	19,572	19,714
Mar-23	23,379	23,493	20,188	20,153
Jun-23	24,530	24,207	20,730	20,532
Sep-23	24,442	24,594	20,700	20,777
Dec-23	24,542	24,609	20,773	20,984
Mar-24	24,735	24,430	21,487	21,233
Jun-24	23,921	24,278	21,296	21,411
Sep-24	24,397	24,292	21,455	21,376
Dec-24	24,463	24,500	21,222	21,168
Mar-25	24,932	24,763	21,080	21,101
Jun-25	24,872	25,110	21,170	21,223
Sep-25	25,438	25,477	23,587	22,416
Dec-25	26,150	25,675	23,299	24,150
Mar-26	25,296	25,727	27,583	25,598
Jun-26	25,828	25,687	25,124	26,520

New equipment and machinery investment fell 8.9 per cent. This was driven by an 11.3 per cent fall in non-mining equipment and machinery, specifically the 53.0 per cent fall in information media and telecommunications.

Rises in transport, postal and warehousing (+27.8 per cent), construction (+17.7 per cent) and mining (+5.4 per cent) equipment and machinery partially offset the fall.

Capex for buildings and structures rose 2.1 per cent, driven by a 3.3 per cent rise in non-mining industries, while mining (-0.1 per cent) saw a minor fall.

The increase in buildings and structures was driven by spending on large projects in information media and telecommunications (+17.7 per cent) and electricity, gas, water and waste services (+7.8 per cent).

"Investment in data centre construction and expansion projects continues to grow, rising for an eighth straight quarter," Mr Lay said.

"There was additional strength in buildings and structures capex driven by the commencement of several large wind, solar and battery energy storage system projects."

The largest falls in total capex were in Victoria (-13.9 per cent) and New South Wales (-2.8 per cent), the two states that had recorded the bulk of data centre equipment investment last quarter.

Figures released today include the final estimate for 2025-26, which saw a rise in total capex of 11.3 per cent (in current prices) compared to 2024-25.

This release also includes the third estimate for planned capex for 2026-27. Businesses revised their expected capex for 2026-27 to be up by 15.5 per cent on the second estimate last quarter.

"Business expectations on future capex increased, driven by continued investment in data centres and renewable energy projects," Mr Lay said.

/ABS Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).View in full here.

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