According to the CoreLogic’s October Construction Monthly report, large scale infrastructure in Queensland is adding to the total amount of activity taking place across the construction industry nationwide.

CoreLogic says that 2,018 development applications and proposals came into the construction pipeline across Australia in the month of September.

While this figure was 15.4 percent lower than the number of development applications captured in the previous month, it is well above the five-year average of 1,775.

The total value of these development applications was $11.2 billion over the month - also above the five-year average of $9.3 billion.

This was partially driven by developments north of the border such as the new development proposal for a component of the Cross River Rail Line in Brisbane.

According to CoreLogic commercial research analyst Eliza Owen, the Cross River Rail project “reached a milestone, following [Queensland] Deputy Premier Jackie Trad's announcement that 5.9 km of tunnelling, four new underground stations and associated work, will be carried out under a pubic private partnership.”  

Moreover, tenders were called for a $2.5 million tunnel, stations and development package as of the end of September.

Owen says that, “This is the third consecutive month where the value of construction work entering the pipeline has been inflated by a large civil engineering project.”

“While development applications remain buoyant, CoreLogic captured just 658 projects moving into the construction stages in September. This is far lower than the five-year average of 1,041 projects per month, and is 27.9 percent less than moved into construction in the previous month,” she says.

The combined value of projects that moved into construction over September fell by 36.8 percent on the previous month, to $3.5 billion.

While all segments outside of commercial building saw a decline, the largest by far was in civil engineering. The value of civil engineering projects commencing was $722 million, down from $1 billion in the previous month, says CoreLogic.

“While far fewer projects are currently moving into construction, the resilience of the pipeline may see higher levels of construction commencing over the next 6-12 months,” says Owen.