Australian private capital spending dropped slightly in Q1 2025, despite a mining sector boost.

Australian private capital expenditure (capex) fell 0.1% in the March quarter of 2025, missing expectations. Building capex rose 0.9%, while plant and machinery capex dropped 1.3%. The mining sector saw a 1.9% rise, but non-mining business investment fell 0.9%. For 2025-26, the capex estimate is $155.9 billion, up 5.6% from previous estimates. Despite a slight trend increase, overall capex volumes have shown a steady decline since March 2005, with recent exceptions in 2022-2023.