{"id":6696,"date":"2026-10-27T03:20:28","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T03:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apac.hubexo.com\/?post_type=resource&p=6696"},"modified":"2026-10-28T03:24:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T03:24:20","slug":"australias-construction-outlook-for-2027","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/apac.hubexo.com\/zh\/resource\/australias-construction-outlook-for-2027\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s Construction Outlook for 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Australia's<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Momentum builds, the bar rises<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Australia’s construction industry enters 2027 with a substantial project pipeline and a forecast rise in commencements, alongside a higher threshold for turning projects into construction.

After several years shaped by cost escalation, labour shortages, insolvencies and shifting interest rates, Australia’s construction industry heads into 2027 with greater forward momentum. New projects keep arriving, few are falling away, and both the value and number of commencements are forecast to rise substantially over the year ahead.

What has changed is the threshold. Hubexo’s Construction Outlook<\/a> for 2027 finds an industry that has become more selective about what it builds and how. As Hubexo’s Ashleigh Porter, President APAC, puts it: “Australia doesn’t have a pipeline problem. It has a conversion problem.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the Construction Outlook tracks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Construction Outlook follows Australia’s building and infrastructure pipeline from Q2 2024 at national, state and sector level. Using project data from Hubexo’s LeadManager<\/a> platform, it tracks projects as they enter the pipeline, stall through deferral or abandonment, and finally break ground. Data runs to Q2 2026, with commencement forecasts to Q2 2027.

This year’s report pairs that data with a nationwide Sentiment Survey<\/strong> and in-depth interviews with developers, architects, builders, consultants and specialists.

A pipeline that keeps filling<\/strong>

New projects continued to enter the pipeline in Q2 2026 despite tougher feasibility conditions. Proposal value slipped just 1% on the previous quarter, while the average number of projects rose. Volumes have eased from their Q3 2025 peak but remain above 2024 levels.

Energy and resources made up roughly 36% of new proposal value. Residential, and commercial and hospitality, together added another 45%.

Few exits, but uneven pressure<\/strong>

Relatively few projects are leaving the pipeline. The national deferral rate eased to 1.5% in Q2 2026, and abandonment sat at 1.3%.

Those averages hide sharp differences between sectors. Energy and resources recorded a 6.3% deferral rate, a reflection of the scale and complexity of its major projects. Residential had the highest abandonment rate in the country at 2.7%, climbing to 5.0% in Victoria. A large pipeline, in other words, is no guarantee of delivery.

Commencements set to climb<\/strong>

Both the value and number of commencements are forecast to rise substantially between Q3 2026 and Q2 2027, and the lift is broad rather than driven by a few large projects.

– Energy and resources<\/strong> is expected to contribute around 36.8% of commencement value.
– Industrial, infrastructure and transport <\/strong>follows at 25.6%, in line with its low deferral rates.
– Residential<\/strong> accounts for about 20.1%. Feasibility is stopping some projects, but a substantial volume of housing is still expected to reach site.

Geographically, NSW\/ACT, VIC, QLD and WA are forecast to make up around 87% of total commencement value. NSW\/ACT and QLD alone account for more than two-thirds of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Industry sentiment: steady, not bullish<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Several indicators have moved in the industry’s favour. Construction insolvencies fell to 3,472 companies in FY2025\u201326, down from 3,596 the year before. In Hubexo’s Sentiment Survey, low margins dropped 15 points as a project challenge for builders. Growth and expansion is now the top business priority for every group surveyed, rising to 62% for builders.

Expectations remain measured. 42% of respondents expect more work in 2027, 46% expect about the same, and just 12% expect less.

Delays and labour<\/strong>. Delays are still the leading project challenge, reported by 78% of builders (up 10 points) and 70% of developers (up 15 points). Acquiring talent tops the people challenges for every group, but the bigger shift is retention: for builders, holding onto staff jumped 19 points to 60%.

“Energy, data centres, transport and housing are competing for the same finite pool of skilled people and delivery capacity,” says Porter. “For builders, the challenge is not simply winning work\u2014it’s choosing where to deploy their people and where they can deliver the strongest returns.”

Cost and capital<\/strong>. With inflation at 4.0% and the cash rate at 4.35%, borrowing costs and feasibility remain under pressure, so projects are being tested earlier and backed more selectively.

Technology<\/strong>. Cost is no longer the main barrier to adoption; changing established practices now ranks first. AI is the most sought-after technology, yet 40% of respondents don’t expect it to affect productivity in the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What<\/strong> industry leaders are saying<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n


Developers head into 2027 with better visibility on the market than they have had for several years, but capital is being deployed more selectively and the hurdle for turning demand into construction is higher. 

“In our experience, the best funding outcomes are values-aligned ones\u2026 We’re fortunate to have patient capital, which means we can wait for the right opportunity rather than step into something that isn’t the right fit simply to satisfy a corporate KPI”, Molti, Managing Director, Ben Teague, told Hubexo.

Architects enter 2027 in a market where design ambition remains high, and attention is turning to the buildings and precincts Australia already has. 

“Instead of simply building new precincts, we will increasingly be asked how to retrofit, intensify and repurpose existing urban environments\u2026 The future will belong to teams capable of integrating architecture, landscape, interior design, sustainability and community engagement from the outset rather than treating them as separate services”, Sn\u00f8hetta Australasia, Managing Director, Gumji Kang, said. 

Builders enter 2027 with no shortage of work. The more difficult question is how much of it can be delivered. 

“The construction picture is genuinely encouraging, with appetite and funding for major projects\u2026 The challenge sits in capacity, with a lot of critical projects competing for the same limited pool of skilled labour and tier one delivery capability. The market feels both buoyant and constrained at the same time”, Connected, General Manager, Emma Bedford, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2027: The year of conversion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Australia has no shortage of projects, or of demand for housing, infrastructure, energy and digital assets. What it lacks is an easy path from pipeline to site. Projects with strong demand, secure capital and realistic delivery plans will progress. Those at the margins of feasibility face redesign, repricing or delay.

“In 2027, success will come down to backing the right projects, protecting margins and finding smarter ways to deliver”, says Porter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download the full and free report here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Momentum builds, the bar rises Australia’s construction industry enters 2027 with a substantial project pipeline and a forecast rise in commencements, alongside a higher threshold for turning projects into construction. After several years shaped by cost escalation, labour shortages, insolvencies and shifting interest rates, Australia’s construction industry heads into 2027 with greater forward momentum. New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":6697,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"resource-category":[21],"class_list":["post-6696","resource","type-resource","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resource-category-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apac.hubexo.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource\/6696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apac.hubexo.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apac.hubexo.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/resource"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apac.hubexo.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/apac.hubexo.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource\/6696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6703,"href":"https:\/\/apac.hubexo.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource\/6696\/revisions\/6703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apac.hubexo.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apac.hubexo.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"resource-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apac.hubexo.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource-category?post=6696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}