New Capital Expenditure Rises 0.4 Per Cent: Australia

Private new capital expenditure (capex) rose 0.4 per cent in the December quarter to be 7.8 per cent higher than the December quarter last year (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: 'The lift in investment was the result of strength in buildings and structures, particularly renewable energy projects.

'This was offset by a fall in equipment and machinery, following the record high investment from data centres in the previous quarter'

Business investment rose 0.8 per cent in the non-mining industries, while the mining industry fell 0.8 per cent.

Building and equipment, seasonally adjusted, chain volume measures

	Building - Seasonal	Building - Trend	Equipment - Seasonal	Equipment - Trend
Dec-05	14,360	14,064	15,346	14,960
Mar-06	14,808	15,183	15,247	15,147
Jun-06	16,398	15,554	14,650	14,960
Sep-06	15,264	15,352	14,910	14,742
Dec-06	14,427	15,294	14,772	14,881
Mar-07	17,678	17,279	15,372	15,487
Jun-07	18,595	17,925	16,154	15,890
Sep-07	17,453	18,313	16,159	16,234
Dec-07	18,805	18,426	16,583	16,623
Mar-08	18,994	18,596	17,048	17,308
Jun-08	18,576	19,304	18,230	18,014
Sep-08	20,504	20,856	18,530	18,205
Dec-08	23,353	22,101	17,696	17,963
Mar-09	21,901	22,196	17,388	17,479
Jun-09	21,450	21,076	17,709	17,421
Sep-09	19,407	20,087	16,968	17,764
Dec-09	19,955	19,934	18,864	18,007
Mar-10	21,013	20,639	17,619	17,643
Jun-10	21,148	21,745	16,943	16,964
Sep-10	23,604	22,714	16,148	16,800
Dec-10	23,317	23,666	17,846	17,546
Mar-11	25,299	25,570	18,794	18,501
Jun-11	27,794	28,394	18,915	19,176
Sep-11	33,334	31,853	19,594	19,467
Dec-11	33,746	35,252	19,654	19,624
Mar-12	38,466	37,903	19,697	19,739
Jun-12	40,023	39,172	19,722	19,932
Sep-12	38,414	38,915	20,262	20,088
Dec-12	37,721	37,650	20,135	19,923
Mar-13	36,796	37,264	19,191	19,491
Jun-13	37,562	37,809	18,862	18,801
Sep-13	39,165	38,281	18,413	18,080
Dec-13	38,043	38,260	16,925	17,356
Mar-14	36,203	37,843	17,237	16,992
Jun-14	37,832	37,530	16,777	17,235
Sep-14	36,967	36,933	18,118	17,756
Dec-14	35,925	35,585	17,989	17,971
Mar-15	33,132	33,559	17,705	17,587
Jun-15	32,108	31,791	16,824	16,800
Sep-15	28,949	29,863	15,900	16,242
Dec-15	29,635	28,610	16,258	16,136
Mar-16	26,802	26,670	16,330	16,350
Jun-16	24,030	24,527	16,624	16,497
Sep-16	22,886	23,085	16,393	16,408
Dec-16	23,013	22,892	16,240	16,258
Mar-17	23,374	23,246	16,143	16,194
Jun-17	23,502	23,631	16,354	16,323
Sep-17	23,959	23,824	16,620	16,676
Dec-17	23,833	23,791	17,051	17,061
Mar-18	23,419	23,481	17,698	17,474
Jun-18	23,163	23,092	17,472	17,884
Sep-18	22,570	22,820	18,595	18,219
Dec-18	23,213	22,948	18,316	18,457
Mar-19	22,599	22,578	18,468	18,499
Jun-19	21,834	22,152	18,505	18,360
Sep-19	22,043	21,706	18,028	18,189
Dec-19	21,034	21,219	18,047	17,894
Mar-20	20,796	20,505	17,665	17,699
Jun-20	19,705	19,694	16,047	17,761
Sep-20	19,048	19,180	16,158	18,072
Dec-20	19,110	19,245	17,365	18,506
Mar-21	19,858	19,863	18,812	18,809
Jun-21	20,853	20,613	18,978	18,932
Sep-21	21,021	21,180	18,943	18,960
Dec-21	21,519	21,410	18,993	19,028
Mar-22	21,538	21,403	19,097	19,177
Jun-22	21,235	21,446	19,522	19,320
Sep-22	21,699	21,743	19,364	19,440
Dec-22	22,560	22,512	19,568	19,707
Mar-23	23,305	23,477	20,149	20,147
Jun-23	24,557	24,218	20,765	20,544
Sep-23	24,496	24,616	20,715	20,782
Dec-23	24,562	24,603	20,767	20,970
Mar-24	24,621	24,405	21,412	21,220
Jun-24	23,960	24,294	21,362	21,429
Sep-24	24,478	24,326	21,484	21,391
Dec-24	24,495	24,500	21,216	21,159
Mar-25	24,778	24,732	20,978	21,083
Jun-25	24,917	25,046	21,249	21,486
Sep-25	25,495	25,493	23,621	22,225
Dec-25	26,080	25,939	23,210	23,070

Capex was up 2.3 per cent for buildings and structures, with non-mining industries up 3.7 per cent. This was partially offset by a fall in mining, which was down 0.2 per cent.

'Growth in buildings and structures was driven by spending on large projects in the Electricity, Gas, Water & Waste, Rental, Hiring & Real Estate, and Information Media & Telecommunications industries,' Mr Lay said.

'Business investment in battery energy storage systems featured strongly this quarter. Spend on wind and solar developments also remained at an elevated level.'

'Strength was also seen from data centre construction, despite the fall in equipment and machinery.'

New equipment and machinery investment fell 1.7 per cent. Information Media & Telecommunications led the weakness in equipment, down 30.1 per cent.

'The drop in new equipment and machinery was driven by an easing in data centre spend this quarter, although equipment investment in the Information Media & Telecommunications industry remains at an elevated level, up 49.6 per cent from last year' Mr Lay said.

Given the recent rises in data centre investment, the ABS has published an article which details how the construction and operations of data centres appear within the suite of ABS economic statistics.

The largest rises for states and territories were in Western Australia (+3.9 per cent), Victoria (+2.0 per cent), and South Australia (+4.8 per cent).

This release includes the fifth estimate for planned capex in 2025-26. Businesses revised their expected capex for 2025-26 to be up by 4.3 per cent since their last estimate.

This release also publishes the first estimate for planned capex in 2026-27, which was up 7.3 per cent on the first estimate for 2025-26.

/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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