Crane counts across the country increased dramatically in the last six months, according to Q3 2022 RLB Crane Index; 300 new cranes were placed on development sites, while 245 were decommissioned.
With the acquisition of 55 cranes, the RLB Crane Index currently stands at 868 cranes, a record high since the index’s launch in 2012.
The rapid increase in crane numbers for Q3 2022 appears to be correlated with the high level of national residential construction activity.
Looking across the country, Sydney remains the primary driver of the crane count. There were 380 cranes observed in Sydney, 206 in Melbourne, 82 in Brisbane, 51 in Perth, 55 on the Gold Coast, 23 in Canberra, 17 in Adelaide, 16 on the Sunshine Coast, 15 in Wollongong, 12 in Newcastle, 10 on the Central Coast, and two in both Hobart and Darwin.
Whilst this strong number shows the continuing resilience of the industry, Domenic Schiafone, Rider Levett Bucknall’s Oceania Director of Research and Development said projects are also being delayed due to increases in inclement weather events, shortages of materials, and lack of skilled labour.
“If cranes providing logistical assistance to multi storey developments remain on site longer than anticipated due to weather events and supply chain disruptions, the cost of preliminaries increase, causing overall costs to rise,” he said.
According to the findings, the churn rate (the number of cranes removed in a period, divided by the closing number of cranes, and expressed as a percentage) of cranes in Australia has decreased dramatically during the last 18 months.
The churn rate stayed around 50 per cent from Q1 2019 through Q1 2021. Since Q1 2021, the national turnover rate has decreased to 28 per cent in Q3 2022.
A lower crane churn rate indicates that cranes are staying on site for longer periods of time. Canberra has the greatest churn rate for this issue, at 70 per cent, while Sydney has a churn rate of 27 per cent.
This changing churn rate component corresponds to recent media reports that projects are being delayed owing to an increase in severe weather occurrences, material shortages, and a lack of labour.
The non-residential index has reached a new high, jumping to 290 points from 268 in Q1 2022. This 7.4 per cent increase equates to the addition of 25 cranes.
For the first time, the new non-residential sectors of elderly care and data centre / industrial are included in the index.
Across the country, there are 14 cranes on aged care complexes and 21 on data center/industrial developments. Previously, these new sectors were counted as part of the residential and other/mixed use sectors.
According to the latest ABS data, construction work done for the 2022 financial year was up by 1.1 per cent (or $2.4B) across Australia compared to 2021 results. Total residential work done was down 0.1 per cent (or $1B) non-residential activity was up by 2.3 per cent (or $1.1B). Engineering activity was up by 1.6 per cent (or $1.4B).
Growth in approval values was seen in the 2022 financial year, with total building approvals rising by 4.2 per cent, or $5B in real terms. Residential approvals lifted 2.6 per cent and non-residential 6.3 per cent. Recent July 2022 approval numbers are trending downwards, which may impact future crane numbers.