Fewer cranes
Much softer numbers for construction in Q3 2018, to feed into the GDP result.
Somewhat old news by now, but the value of apartment building work done peaked somewhere between April and June this year, with the pipeline falling away now.
The value of apartment building work two peaked about two years ago in Queensland, with the unit market in Brisbane now looking much more in equilibrium than it was.
The September quarter also saw a much weaker result for engineering, and this was in spite of the tremendous ongoing strength in infrastructure construction in New South Wales and Victoria.
The slowdown reflected weaker activity levels in Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia, as well as a dramatic drop-off in the Northern Territory as the Ichthys LNG project now transitions to the production phase.
Overall, a weak result across all sectors of construction: new houses, new apartments (ex-Sydney), commercial, and engineering.
Renovation work - a small part of the puzzle - was solid.
