Deloitte Access Economics Investment Monitor

5 NOVEMBER 2026: Australia’s data centre boom is landing on top of an already record construction pipeline, with the value of projects under construction approaching $870 billion in 2027 - more than double the peak of the mining boom. It comes at a time when the economy has little spare capacity to absorbit and inflation remains above target.

Releasing the latest edition of Deloitte Access Economics’ quarterly Investment Monitor report, Deloitte Access Economics Director and lead author Sheraan Underwood said: “Australia’s investment pipeline has reached a record $1.39 trillion, including 37 data centre projects worth $141 billion, up 36% over the past year.

“Data centres are the newest driver, but they’re being added to a pipeline that is already historically large. Transport and social infrastructure investment is still elevated, and it now overlaps with the net zero transition and the build-out of the digital economy.”

Chart 1: Value of projects under construction by industry

The current cycle differs from the mining boom in three ways: where the activity is happening, the economy’s capacity to absorb it, and the eventual payoff. New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland account for 67% of data centre investment in the database. During the mining boom, around 80% of investment went to Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

“This boom is happening close to our major cities, so data centres are competing directly with housing and infrastructure for workers and materials. There’s also less room to absorb it than during the mining boom. Inflation is above the Reserve Bank’s target and the construction sector is already dealing with a historically large volume of work,” Underwood said.

“Labour is the main pinch point. Data centres need large numbers of electricians and other skilled trades, and those workers are already in short supply across housing, energy and infrastructure. Competition for these workers will add to costs and raise the risk that projects are delayed, scaled back or take longer to deliver.

“The payoff will also look different. Mining investment built export capacity that still adds to national income. Data centres need a lot of upfront construction, but much of the technology inside them is imported and relatively few people are needed to run them. That means the boost to the Australian economy will be smaller than the headline investment figures suggest.

“That creates a mismatch in timing. The construction and inflation pressures are arriving now, while the productivity dividend may take much longer to emerge.”

Investment holds up as the economy slows

Deloitte Access Economics expects business investment to rise as a share of the economy over the next few years, even as growth slows.

“Business investment would normally weaken sharply as the economy slows. This time, data centres, infrastructure and the net zero transition are holding it up, but that’s a narrow base. Outside those projects, business confidence has deteriorated, capacity utilisation is easing and forward orders are below their long-run average,” Underwood said.

“That matters for productivity. Australia needs stronger and broader investment to give workers better technology and get back to the 1.2% annual productivity growth assumed in Treasury’s latest Intergenerational Report.

“Public investment has also passed its peak. State and territory budgets allocated $280 billion to infrastructure over the four years to 2029-30. After inflation, that’s $9.4 billion less than a year earlier and the lowest four-year commitment since 2019-20. Public investment will still underpin a big construction workload, but it’s no longer driving growth the way it was.

“The result is an investment outlook that is substantial but uneven. Major digital economy and energy projects will lift private business investment, while public investment, though no longer driving growth as it once did, will contribute to a considerable construction workload.”

What else the database shows this quarter

• The total value of projects rose by 3.6% in the September quarter to $1.39 trillion across 986 projects. Around $71 billion of new projects more than offset $28 billion of completions and deletions, while cost revisions added a net $5 billion.
• Definite investment (projects under construction or committed) edged up 0.4% to a record $563 billion. Planned investment rose 5.9% to $828 billion, almost double its trough in early 2024, though growth is concentrated in a few industries.
• Finance, property and business services, which includes data centres, recorded the largest quarterly increase, up 26.4% to $171 billion. Transport remains the largest industry at $437 billion. Utilities reached $387 billion, with definite investment almost doubling over two years to $100 billion and more than $250 billion in planning. Manufacturing rose 11.8% to $61.5 billion on defence, low-carbon steel and hydrogen projects, while health projects total almost $50 billion.
• Queensland recorded the strongest growth, up 18.4% to $304 billion. New South Wales remains the largest investment destination at $391 billion, while South Australia rose 10.9% to $72 billion. Victoria eased 1.1% to $215 billion and the Northern Territory fell 1.9% to $98 billion. Western Australia, Tasmania and the ACT were broadly unchanged.

Deloitte Access Economics’ Investment Monitor is primarily a source of information for businesses and others about major engineering and commercial construction projects and their promoters. It is also a barometer of structural change in the Australian economy, and of the investment climate – now and in the future.