Building industry shows life_英文原版

 

a pick-up in new home starts and work from the mining sector helped the building industry to a slight rise in activity last month following a downturn in august, new figures show.

the australian industry group - housing industry association performance of construction index increased 7.5 points to 53.1 in september, the groups said today.

expansion and contraction are separated at the 50.0 level.

firms surveyed cited a pick-up in new home starts and increased work from the mining sector as among the major factors underpinning the lift in activity.

but higher interest rates remained a concern.

activity and new orders expanded, leading to higher growth in deliveries and an upturn in employment.

the improvement in september was underpinned by stronger growth in commercial construction and a pick-up in house building activity.

however, apartment building activity continued to contract at a high rate.

new orders, which reflect likely forward activity,  also strengthened in the commercial and engineering construction sectors and steadied in house building.

tony pensabene,  ai's group associate director - economics and research, said the result for september reflected recent broad economic trends.

"solid business investment, the mining boom and increased public sector demand are supporting growth in commercial and engineering construction, while the recent modest upturn in approvals has flowed into higher house building activity in september," he said today.

"concern about a further interest rate rise is, however, creating uncertainty about future prospects given the already appreciable easing in overall activity since last year.

"an added concern is the continued high growth in construction costs which has the potential to further erode margins and inhibit client sentiment," mr pensabene said.

hia executive director for housing and economics, simon tennent, said the recovery in the september index was encouraging after the  disappointing august result.

"still of major concern for the construction industry, however, is that many areas of australia not enjoying a direct benefit from the resources boom are beginning to feel the pinch from higher mortgage rates," mr tennent said.

the index is a seasonally adjusted national composite index based on a numebr of indices for sales, orders/new business, deliveries and employment with varying weights across the residential, engineering, non-residential (commercial) and apartment sectors.

a reading above 50 points indicates construction activity is generally expanding; below 50, that it is declining.

the distance from 50 is indicative of the strength of the expansion or decline.

the results are based on responses from about 120 companies