Cranes remain active in large numbers across Australia’s building sites as high levels of civil construction activity offsets softer conditions in new apartment developments, the latest data shows.

Global quantity surveying and construction consultancy firm Rider Levitt Bucknall (RLB) has released the March 2026 edition of semi-annual crane count report.

The report counts the number of cranes which are active across the civil, commercial and residential construction sectors.

It represents an anecdotal indicator of current activity levels on major sites across the country.

According to the latest count, there are currently 838 cranes in operation across Australia.

Granted, this was slightly lower compared with the 846 cranes that were recorded during the last count in September.

As a result, the latest count saw the overall RLB Crane Index ease back from 198 points to 197 points.

Compared with historic standards, however, the current crane count remains just five percent below its peak in 2023 and almost double levels that were recorded eleven years ago in the March quarter of 2015.

This means that the current crane count indicates extraordinarily elevated levels of major construction activity.

                                                                    RLB Crane Index

(Image: RLB Crane Index. Source: RLB, March 2026)

 

Not surprisingly, the latest count reflects a shift in patterns within major construction work that has been evident over recent years.

This has occurred as higher interest rates and higher construction costs led to a slowdown in residential work from the early to mid-part of 2023 (especially in apartments) but work continued to ramp up on major civil projects as well as certain areas of non-residential building such as hospitals and data centres.

In terms of housing, the Residential Crane Index has contracted during four of the past five counts to go from its peak of 178 points in the September quarter of 2023 to 150 points in the latest count.

In fact, 30 cranes were lost on residential sites over the past six months, taking the overall total from 498 last September to 468 in March.

(As noted below, however, activity on major residential sites is expected to pick up again moving forward following a sustained improvement in approval and commencement numbers across 2025.)

By contrast, more cranes continue to appear on civil and non-residential building developments.

All up, the count of non-residential cranes increased from 347 last September to a record 370 in the latest count.

This has seen the Non-Residential Crane Index reach a record of 322 – a figure which indicates that the number of cranes has more than tripled over the past eleven years.

Not surprisingly, this is being driven by civil construction, which has seen a rise in crane numbers from 59 to 80 in the last count.

Meanwhile, crane numbers are also up on projects relating to mixed use (up 11 to 119) data centres (up 3 to 36), health (up 5 to 33) and aged care (up 5 to 14)

(Melourne’ North East Link construction project currently has 55 cranes on site. Image: Victoria Big Build)

Across major capital cities:

  • The Gold Coast recorded a new record high, adding 8 cranes since the last count to reach a total of 75 on account of a growing number of residential cranes. For the first time, the Gold Coast recorded more cranes than Brisbane, which dropped from 75 to 64 during the latest crane count.
  • Record activity levels were also recorded in Adelaide, which added three cranes to reach a total of 29 on account of healthy residential activity levels and rising activity levels in office building and healthcare.
  • In Melbourne, work on major transport projects as well as a growing data centre boom is keeping crane activity healthy despite subdued residential conditions. All up the city’s crane count increased by 8 to go from 199 in September to 207 in the latest count. Two projects- Noth East Link and Suburban Rail Loop – account for 72 cranes between them.
  • Canberra saw a rebound, adding 10 cranes to reach 22 cranes.
  • However, the crane count in Sydney continued to drop, falling by 24 cranes from 370 to 346.
  • In Perth, crane numbers remained stable at 40.

As noted in the report, the results of the crane count reflect elevated levels of activity across the broader construction market.

All up, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicates that the dollar value of construction work done throughout Australia increased by 3.8 percent during calendar 2025 compared with calendar 2024 to reach record levels of $318 billion in constant dollar terms.

Going forward, the report notes that leading indicators appear to be healthy, especially as strengthening building approval numbers across 2025 point to higher expected levels of residential building activity in 2026.

 

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