The 2024 Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) data from the South African Reserve Bank reveals a marginal increase of 0.4% year-on-year in total construction investment to R387 billion (nominal terms), with about R65 billion attributed to machinery and equipment costs. Although GFCF growth was subdued, construction industry turnover rose a stronger 10.1% to R322 billion, indicating a healthier sector performance than national accounts suggest. Confidence among civil contractors notably improved, with sentiment rising by 13%, while building contractor confidence edged up only 3%.
Investment was nearly split between the building and civil sectors, though after adjusting for machinery costs skewed towards civil works, the building sector held a larger share. Private sector construction investment declined by 1.2%, while public corporations increased spending by 5.4% to R67 billion, mainly in civil works. General government investment was flat, rising only 0.4%, with a rise in building activity (+6.4%) offset by reduced civil works (-2.6%). Residential investment dropped by 3.1%, despite a 10.6% increase from government. Non-residential investment rose modestly by 2.3%, driven largely by government which now dominates this segment, with private sector contributions at their lowest (real terms) since 1969. Click here to download the full annual dataset (available to subscribers)
