The last of the AiG monthly indexes for June is out, the construction PMI, and there are a few green shoots but mostly the sector remains mired in recession:
The national construction industry continued to decline in June, although the rate of contraction was the slowest in four months. This reflected less pronounced declines in activity, employment and deliveries from suppliers in line with an improvement in new orders across most sectors.
- The seasonally adjusted Australian Industry Group/ Housing Industry Association Australian Performance of Construction Index (Australian PCI®) increased by 4.2 points to 39.5 in June. The index has now remained below the critical 50 points level (that separates expansion from contraction) for 37 consecutive months.
- By sector, declines in house building, apartments and commercial construction activity were all markedly slower in June. Engineering construction was the weakest performing sector with activity constrained by a particularly steep fall in new orders.
- Despite reports of an improvement in the uptake of new work in the month, the industry continues to face a tough environment with a number of respondents citing the negative influences of project delays, tight credit conditions, low consumer confidence and weaker mining-related construction work.
If you really squint, you can see a very slow up trend. The same sluggish hope is apparent in new orders where some rebalancing was evident:
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Employment is off its lows but not much else:
As you can see in the full list of internals, this is a turning oil tanker:
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