RLB CRANE INDEX®

Construction activity overall eased. Total construction work in Victoria for Q2 2025 decreased by 1.3% compared to the same quarter in 2024. The non-residential sector fell by 13.9%, while engineering activity slightly increased by 0.6%. Residential construction grew by 5.0% year-on-year, driven by a 7.7% rise in apartments and a 3.1% increase in new houses so far this year.

The residential sector saw a net increase of 16 cranes, with 51 added and 35 removed. Other net gains occurred in civil (+3), education (+2), and hotel (+1). This highlights the strength of Victoria’s public works program, with projects like the West Gate Tunnel, North East Link, Level Crossing Removals, and Metro Tunnel supporting record civil activity levels. Civil crane numbers hit 51, surpassing the previous sector high of 48 in Q1 2025.

Declines were observed across several sectors: aged care (–2), civic (–5), commercial (–2), data centres (–4), health (–3), mixed use (–5), and retail (–1).

Currently, residential projects account for 53.3% of all cranes in Melbourne, while civil projects make up 25.6%. The North East Link alone supports 45 long-term cranes (fixed and crawler) across three main sites — Bulleen Road Interchange, Greensborough Road Interchange, and Doncaster Road Interchange — making it the largest crane concentration on a single infrastructure project in Australia.

New additions:

• Civil: North East Link Doncaster (Balwyn North, six cranes), North East Link (Greensborough, two cranes), West Gate Tunnel Project (Altona North)
• Commercial: 49 Wangara (Cheltenham, three cranes), 122 Moray (South Melbourne), Bennett’s Lane Precinct (Melbourne), Cremorne Office Tower (Cremorne), Kennards Self Storage Centre (Brunswick)
• Data Centres/Industrial: LA1 – Laverton Data Centre (Laverton), Truganina Data Centre (Truganina, six cranes)
• Education: La Trobe University – Bundoora Clinical Teaching Building (Bundoora), St Aloysius College Gym Project (North Melbourne)
• Health: Geelong Hospital
• Hotel: Oakwood (Epping, two cranes)
• Mixed-use: Clarendon Street (South Melbourne), Werribee Centre (Werribee), Whiltshire and Carmine House (Richmond)
• Residential: Projects with more than two cranes include Assemble (Brunswick), Barings and Aware Super (Preston), Elysium Fields (Docklands), Homes Victoria – Albert Park, Barak Beacon, Flemington, and Simmons Street, Regatta at Collins Wharf (Docklands) and Y7 (Docklands).

Crane numbers rose in two of the city’s six main regions: the CBD and Surrounds and West. Meanwhile, the East, South, North, and Geelong regions experienced a decline in crane numbers.