Public engineering work on roads, water, sewerage and electricity grew 4.3% over the year to the June quarter 2026, up from 1.2% in March but still below its 2011–2025 average of 6.1%. The mix moved further. Electricity work fell 5.8% on a year earlier, while water storage and supply and sewerage and drainage each reached the largest quarter in a series that begins in 1986; roads grew only 0.6%, though that was also enough for its largest quarter in the series. APN Enabling Infrastructure Index™ (24420) reads −0.1209σ, close to its long-run norm.
Values are in current prices and are not adjusted for rising construction costs.
This is the June quarter follow-up to Roads, Water and Power: The Public Groundwork Behind New Housing, which sets out what these four types of work are, why they sit behind housing supply, and how the programme grew from 2021 to the March quarter 2026. The figures are the ABS value of engineering construction work done for the public sector, in current prices: they cover all work of each type, not only work serving new housing, and are not adjusted for construction costs.
Growth picked up a little in the June quarter
Growth over the year in public engineering work on the four types combined, by quarter
APN calculation based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data: Engineering Construction Activity, June 2026, Table 11 (A1837577J, A1837589T, A1837592F, A1837595L). Change in the combined value of the four types on the same quarter a year earlier, March quarter 2012 to June quarter 2026; current prices. The dotted line is the 2011–2025 average.
The four types together came to $12.97bn in the June quarter, against $12.44bn a year earlier. Growth of 4.3% was higher than March’s 1.2%, but growth was below 5% in each of the last three quarters, after exceeding 15% in every quarter from 2022 to 2024. Quarterly figures are original, and the June quarter is usually the largest of the financial year, so each quarter is compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
The June quarter by type
| Type of work | June quarter 2025 | June quarter 2026 | Change over the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roads, highways and subdivisions | $6.10bn | $6.14bn | 0.6% |
| Water storage and supply | $2.04bn | $2.30bn | 13.0% |
| Sewerage and drainage | $1.53bn | $1.92bn | 25.3% |
| Electricity generation, transmission and distribution | $2.76bn | $2.60bn | −5.8% |
| Four types combined | $12.44bn | $12.97bn | 4.3% |
APN calculation based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data: Engineering Construction Activity, June 2026, Table 11 (A1837577J, A1837589T, A1837592F, A1837595L). Work done for the public sector, original, current prices.
Change over the year to the June quarter 2026, by type of work
APN calculation based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data: Engineering Construction Activity, June 2026, Table 11 (A1837577J, A1837589T, A1837592F, A1837595L). Change on the June quarter 2025, current prices.
Electricity work was $2.60bn in the June quarter, 5.8% less than a year earlier. Its share of the four types was 20.1%, against an average of 21.1% across the quarters of 2011–2025. Sewerage and drainage grew 25.3% and water storage and supply 13.0%, each to the largest quarter in the series. Roads, highways and subdivisions, the largest type, grew 0.6%, which also took it to its largest quarter. Excluding electricity, the other three types together grew 7.1%.
Where the reading sits
APN Enabling Infrastructure Index™ (24420) converts the combined growth rate into a standard score, its distance from the 2011–2025 average in standard deviations. At 4.3% against an average of 6.1%, the June quarter reads −0.1209σ, higher than 68 of the other 155 quarters since September 1987. Growth in this series varies widely, so a rate a little below average sits near the middle of its history. The index is a component of the APN Future Development Pipeline Index™ (24400), where slower infrastructure growth counts as more friction against delivering new housing; how the five conditions combined in the June quarter is set out in Is It Getting Harder to Build New Homes? Five Conditions in the June Quarter 2026.
What this does not show
The figures are for work done, not for projects committed or planned, and they are national totals: they do not show whether the work is where new housing is being built. They exclude work done for private developers and privately owned utilities, and they are not adjusted for construction costs. Electricity generation and transmission include projects serving the energy system as a whole, not only connections to new homes. One quarter’s fall in electricity work does not establish a trend.
- Australian Bureau of Statistics (Reference period: June 2026) ‘Table 11. Value of work done, for the public sector, by type of construction’ [data set], Engineering Construction Activity, Australia [https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/industry/building-and-construction/engineering-construction-activity-australia/jun-2026], accessed 30 September 2026.
ABS material is used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Calculations, standardisations and index readings are APN’s and are not attributable to the ABS.
Findings are presented on the basis of data and evidence alone.
