Home Property Australia Crane numbers peak

Crane numbers peak

  • April 12, 2023
  • by Property Australia

The Q1 2023 RLB Crane Index has just been released, revealing that crane numbers in the country have hit their peak.

While still maintaining a strong presence with 835 cranes, the second-highest number since the RLB Crane Index began in 2012, this quarter saw a 3.8 per cent decline from the record-breaking 868 cranes in the last edition.

Over the past six months, 292 new cranes have been erected on new development sites, while 300 were taken down from projects nearing completion, resulting in a net decrease of 33 cranes.

Domenic Schiafone, RLB’s Oceania Director of Research and Development said the continuing strong number of cranes observed correlates with the strong national activity numbers.

All sectors experienced a decrease in crane numbers except for civic, civil, and education. The residential index recorded a level of 171, slightly below the peak of 172 seen in Q3 22 and Q1 19.

“The non-residential index fell from its record high of 290 to 264 for this edition,” Mr Schiafone.

“When analysing the numbers of cranes centred around the key capital cities post COVID-19, cranes within the CBD of Melbourne (Hoddle Grid, Docklands and Southbank) have fallen significantly. In the Q3 19 edition, cranes numbered 68. Since then, the region’s cranes have fallen in the next seven editions to now number only 26 cranes. In comparison, cranes in Sydney and Barangaroo have risen from 29 to 30.”

Sydney remains the leading city in terms of crane count in Australia, with 365 cranes observed out of the 836 across the country. Melbourne follows with 189 cranes, Brisbane (77), the Gold Coast (56), Perth (51), the Sunshine Coast (20), Adelaide (18), Canberra (17), Wollongong (16), the Central Coast (13), Newcastle (nine), Darwin (four), and Hobart has one.

Crane numbers in Melbourne have fallen to their lowest levels in a decade. In contrast, other capital cities, except for Adelaide, have experienced relatively stable crane numbers in their prime districts.

The index revealed a decline in the non-residential index, dropping from its previous record-high to an index value of 264, which is still the second-highest on record but marks a loss of 5.7 per cent or 29 cranes.

The non-residential sector includes aged care and data centre/industrial, which were introduced in the last edition. Currently, there are 11 cranes on aged care developments nationwide and 15 on data centre/industrial projects. The total number of residential cranes in the country stands at 532, slightly lower than the previous count.