Bunbury Infrastructure Projects, WA

Bunbury combines health, manufacturing, retail and construction activity with a transport-led project program

Economic base

Bunbury has a diversified service and production economy rather than a single-industry base. In 2021, health care and social assistance accounted for 15.7% of employed residents, construction 10.7%, retail trade 10.3%, education and training 8.5%, manufacturing 8.5% and mining 6.2%. Transport, postal and warehousing accounted for 4%, while accommodation and food services accounted for 7.7%. This profile combines local services with industrial, logistics and visitor-facing activity. It gives transport access and health capacity a direct connection to the way residents work and businesses operate. The spread across services, production and construction also means local conditions are shaped by several demand sources rather than one employment stream.

The business structure reinforces that breadth. In June 2025, Bunbury had 2,934 registered businesses and 1,272 employing businesses. Construction had 572 registered businesses and 251 employing businesses; health care and social assistance had 310 and 119 respectively; professional, scientific and technical services had 294 and 134; retail had 211 and 138; and manufacturing had 116 and 80. These are business counts, not job counts, but they indicate a broad base of firms supporting household services, production and construction activity. The construction group is especially relevant to the council’s building and infrastructure setting, while health, professional services and retail add recurring local demand.

Project program

The most material pattern in Bunbury’s project work is a transport concentration. Transport work is under way, further transport work is proposed and completed transport work provides an established base of activity. Health work is also under way. The largest active or proposed work is transport at a mid-sized scale. Some transport work is shared with other councils, so the program has an inter-council dimension as well as a local one. The direction of work therefore links current activity with future access improvements, while completed transport work provides continuity in the council’s infrastructure program.

This direction sits alongside building work approved to proceed. In the latest 12 months, non-residential approvals were $35.4m and stood at 0.67× Bunbury’s own weighted three-year average. Residential approvals were 1.21× the council’s own three-year average. Together, the measures point to a program led by transport work, with a stronger recent residential approvals position than non-residential building approvals relative to each measure’s local benchmark. Building approvals add a separate signal of private construction activity, while the project program describes public and shared infrastructure directions. Reading both together helps distinguish the council’s infrastructure emphasis from the current building mix.

Economic connections

Transport work aligns with Bunbury’s roles in manufacturing, retail, wholesale and transport, postal and warehousing. Better movement of workers, inputs and finished goods could support access between industrial and service areas, although the project description gives no measured economic outcome. The connection is also relevant to the shared transport work: movement across council boundaries may support journeys and freight that do not stop at the local government boundary. Construction is a substantial resident employment sector and a large local business group, so transport activity may also provide work for firms involved in construction and related services. These mechanisms concern access and business activity; they do not convert project scale into local economic output.

Health work under way is consistent with an economy where health care and social assistance is the largest identified employed-resident industry. It may add service capacity alongside Bunbury’s existing three open hospitals, including one public hospital. The wider service base also includes 15 approved centre-based childcare services with 861 places and five residential aged care homes with 355 places. These facilities support participation in work and household care, while population movement and housing approvals create a continuing need to consider how service capacity, access and construction activity interact. Health capacity is therefore connected both to employment structure and to the everyday requirements of households, but the infrastructure direction and service counts should be read as distinct measures.

Outlook

Bunbury’s near-term economic setting combines a broad employment base with continuing population growth. The council’s project direction is transport-led, while health work is under way and residential building approvals are above the council’s own three-year average. This combination supports attention to access, service capacity and construction activity as population and household needs change. The project description is directional, while measured employment and population outcomes are separate indicators. Population change also matters for the scale and timing of demand placed on health, childcare, aged care, housing and transport systems.

The main watch point is the balance between residential and non-residential activity. Residential approvals are running above their local benchmark, while non-residential approvals are below theirs. Future readings should track building approvals, the labour market, population change and the balance between transport, health and other project work. Those indicators will help show whether housing activity, service demand, access work and commercial building activity are moving in step. The mix of active, proposed and completed work is also relevant: a transport-led direction may have different timing and local business connections from health work or building approvals.

For council and planning staff

Service planning needs to connect the state housing target’s required yearly pace with local population and capacity measures. Bunbury’s latest population change was 381 people, or 1.1%, in 2025. Natural increase contributed 16 people, net internal migration 56 and net overseas migration 309. The latest approvals rate was 3.7 dwellings per 1,000 residents in the 12 months to July 2026. Current service capacity includes 3 open hospitals, 15 approved centre-based childcare services and 5 residential aged care homes, with 861 childcare places and 355 residential aged care places. Together, these measures frame the relationship between household growth, housing delivery and demand for health, childcare and aged care services.

For buyers’ agents and investors

Household and labour-market indicators describe a mixed housing context. In 2021, 34.1% of occupied private dwellings were rented, 31.5% were owned with a mortgage and 30.6% were owned outright. Average household size was 2.2 people and median age was 43. A total of 44% of residents lived at a different address five years earlier. Median weekly household income was $1,326 and median weekly personal income was $725. The labour force was 18,795 people in 2026-Q1, with 929 unemployed and an unemployment rate of 4.9%.

For builders and developers

Residential building approvals comprised 133 dwellings in the 12 months to July 2026: 133 new houses and 0 townhouses, apartments and other dwellings. That was 1.21× Bunbury’s own three-year average, with 3.7 dwellings approved per 1,000 residents and $68.1m in residential building work approved. Non-residential building work approved in the latest 12 months was $35.4m, or 0.67× the council’s own weighted three-year average. The local construction base included 572 registered construction businesses and 251 employing construction businesses in June 2025.

Key takeaways

• Bunbury’s economic base is diversified, with health care, construction, retail, education, manufacturing and mining prominent in resident employment and a broad business population.
• Transport is the dominant direction of project work, with work under way, proposed and completed, while health work is under way and some transport work is shared with other councils.
• Residential approvals were above Bunbury’s own three-year average, while non-residential approvals were below their local benchmark, creating a material difference in the current building mix.

Sources

• Health care and social assistance — ABS Census 2021
• Registered businesses — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Construction — ABS Census 2021
• Retail trade — ABS Census 2021
• Education and training — ABS Census 2021
• Manufacturing — ABS Census 2021
• Mining — ABS Census 2021
• Transport, postal and warehousing — ABS Census 2021
• Accommodation and food services — ABS Census 2021
• Employing businesses — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Construction — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Employing businesses, Construction — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Health Care and Social Assistance — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Employing businesses, Health Care and Social Assistance — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Employing businesses, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Retail Trade — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Employing businesses, Retail Trade — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Manufacturing — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Employing businesses, Manufacturing — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Non-residential building approvals, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Dwellings approved versus this council's own three-year average — ABS Building Approvals
• Non-residential building approvals versus this council's own three-year average, weighted by the value of those approvals — ABS Building Approvals
• Open public and private hospitals — AIHW MyHospitals
• Public hospitals — AIHW MyHospitals
• Approved centre-based childcare services — ACECQA national register
• Approved childcare places — ACECQA national register
• Residential aged care homes — AIHW GEN aged care
• Residential aged care places — AIHW GEN aged care
• Population change — ABS Regional Population
• Unemployment rate — Small Area Labour Markets
• Dwellings approved per 1,000 residents, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Population change — ABS Regional Population
• Natural increase — ABS Regional Population
• Net internal migration — ABS Regional Population
• Net overseas migration — ABS Regional Population
• Rented — ABS Census 2021
• Owned with a mortgage — ABS Census 2021
• Owned outright — ABS Census 2021
• Average household size — ABS Census 2021
• Median age — ABS Census 2021
• Lived at a different address 5 years ago — ABS Census 2021
• Median household income (weekly) — ABS Census 2021
• Median personal income (weekly) — ABS Census 2021
• Labour force — Small Area Labour Markets
• Unemployed persons — Small Area Labour Markets
• Dwellings approved, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Value of residential building work approved (new homes, alterations and additions), latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• New houses approved, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Townhouses, apartments and other dwellings approved, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals