Australia’s private capital expenditure declined 3.6% in the second quarter, reversing market expectations for a 0.5% increase and highlighting a cooling in the country’s data centre construction boom.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported Thursday that inflation-adjusted private business investment totaled A$50.95 billion ($36.58 billion) in the June quarter, down from A$52.8 billion in the prior three months. The decline was driven by a 53% drop in spending on information media and telecommunications equipment, which followed record investment in server infrastructure during the first quarter.
Spending on buildings and structures rose 2.1%, while investment in plant and machinery fell 8.9%. Overall, firms now plan to spend A$200.7 billion in the year to June 2027, an upward revision of 15.5% from the previous estimate.
Analysts attributed the second-quarter pullback to a slowdown in data centre construction, which had surged in recent periods. The exchange rate used in the report was $1 = 1.3928 Australian dollars.
