Construction spending in Australia took a surprise spill last quarter as infrast...
SYDNEY - Construction spending in Australia took a surprise spill last quarter as infrastructure came off the boil and home building hit a one-year low, a disappointing result that adds to signs of a struggling economy.
The value of construction work done slid 3.1 percent in the December quarter, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed. That badly missed forecasts of a 0.4 percent gain and followed a 3.6 percent drop in the previous quarter. The GDP report for the December quarter is due on March 6 and NAB had already been tipping pedestrian growth of 0.4 percent in the quarter, giving 2.7 percent for the year.
“We expect the residential construction downturn will be much deeper than the RBA’s outlook,” said Owyong, who expects a decline of around 18 percent peak-to-trough.The RBA acknowledged the faster downturn in building earlier this month when it cut forecasts for economic growth this year and next. “Possibly bottlenecks are a constraint or it may have been weather disruptions,” said Westpac senior economist Andrew Hanlan.
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