The volume of work which is being done on construction of detached homes throughout Australia has hit record levels, the latest data suggests.

And work on building transport related infrastructure such as roads, rail and bridges is nearing record levels.

In the latest edition of its Construction Work Done report, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has released its initial estimates of construction activity across the June quarter – a period which predates the worst of current lockdowns and restrictions.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, it found that the overall dollar value of work done across the civil, commercial and residential sector edged up by 0.8 percent to come in at $52.875 billion and was up by 0.4 percent compared with the June quarter of last year.

The result came on the back of an upturn in engineering construction activity.

That aggregate number, however, masks a boom in activity in construction of detached dwellings and transport related infrastructure.

In terms of the former sector, the dollar value of work done edged up by 0.1 percent in the June quarter to go from a seasonally adjusted 410.064 billion in the March quarter to $10.073 billion in the June quarter.

At this level, detached home building activity was 16.7 percent higher compared with the COVID impacted June quarter of 2020 and was up by 8.5 percent compared with the (pre-COVID) June quarter of 2019 two years ago.

As a result, the overall value of residential construction work increased by 8.9 percent over the  year despite a continued softening in the multi-residential sector (see chart)

Whilst elevated across the board, detached home building was particularly robust in the ACT, Queensland and New South Wales.

Across those states, the value of work done on detached home building rose by 17.4 percent, 4.4 percent and 2.3 percent respectively over the quarter.

Meanwhile, momentum is gathering on construction of roads, bridges and railways.

On roads, activity reached $5.690 billion (not seasonally adjusted) – the second highest quarterly level on record.

On rail, the value of work reached record highs of $2.934 billion whilst activity on construction of bridges reached its second highest level of $342.1 million.

Speaking of the detached home sector, HIA Economist Angela Lillicrap says momentum is being driven by several factors and is helping to boost the broader economy.

“The national economy is benefiting from this record volume of work and the boom is expected to continue well into 2022,” Lillicrap said.

“This will support employment across the sector.

“HomeBuilder and low interest rates have been a key driver of the record volume of detached home commencements. This demand for housing is also coming from a shift in the location of the population and a move to lower density housing. The average number of people per house has been falling since the 1980s and COVID may have accelerated this trend.”

However, Lillicrap cautions that shortage in labour and materials are seeing fewer homes come to completion – a phenomenon she warns will be exacerbated by recent lockdowns.