Interest has grown again in recent years about the long-term and cycli
cal nature of building investment and its effect on the macroeconomy,
This paper investigates the nature of building trends and cycles from
the 19th century to the present day for eight major OECD economies. Fo
cusing predominantly on non-housing structures, the Kalman filter is u
sed to decompose the series into trends and cycles, It was found that
building cycles exist in all countries, though with considerable varia
tion, Comparisons of volatility between countries and between the diff
erent types of fixed investment are made, The long-run share of fixed
investment in structures as a proportion of national income is investi
gated, Consideration is given to whether international building invest
ment trends are coincident, and an analysis made of the long-term corr
elation between structures investment cycles.