Australian national accounts, June quarter 2026

Q2 GDP: 0.4%qtr, 2.1%yr. Q2 Housing Construction: 1.6%qtr, 5.8%yr

The Australian economy expanded 0.4% in Q2 2026, with year-ended growth slowing to 2.1%. Today’s data confirms the economy is losing momentum, with growth running at around 1.5% on a six-month annualised basis over the first half of 2026, down from around 2.8% in the second half of 2025.
The Q2 national accounts detail shows it was a messy quarter. Key takeouts are: 1) demand growth is slowing but remains resilient and is far from falling off a cliff; 2) there is a complex mix of headwinds and tailwinds at work including interest rate rises, tax policy changes, a wind-down in public infrastructure work and a major ramp-up in data centre investment, with activity likely to be choppy going forward and underlying pulse harder to find, and 3) aggregate productivity growth remains soft with unit labour costs growth lifting marginally.
Today’s result suggests the economy is slowing but running a touch firmer than expected by the RBA (1.9%yr in their latest SoMP). This firmer outcome and a tick higher in unit labour costs will likely add to the Board’s unease leading into its September meeting. With the second half likely to feature more noise from external disruptions and further shifts in various ‘crosswinds’, pinpointing the pace of underlying trends will remain challenging.

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