State & territory economic performance report
- How are Australia’s states and territories performing? CommSec has attempted to find out by analysing eight key indicators: economic growth; retail spending; equipment investment; unemployment, construction work done; population growth; housing finance and dwelling commencements.
- Just as the Reserve Bank uses decade averages to determine the level of “normal” interest rates; we have done the same with the economic indicators. For each state and territory, indicators were compared withdecade averages – that is, against the “normal”.
- It is clear that the ACT and Western Australian economies are out-performing at present. In the ACT, dwelling starts are a massive 72 per cent above the decade average while unemployment is the lowest in
the nation and well below what has been regarded as “normal” for the territory. In addition the ACT is benefitting from above-average population and economic growth. - The Western Australian economy is also a stand-out. Economic growth in Western Australia is the fastest in the nation and well above its “normal” level. In addition construction is soaring due to the mining boom – a massive 88 per cent higher than decade averages.
- By comparison the economies of NSW and Queensland are performing less impressively. NSW and Queensland are the only states where dwelling starts are below decade averages. Further, economic activity in NSW is only 14 per cent above its decade average, compared with 32 per cent in Western Australia. And currently population growth is above “normal” in all states and territories except Queensland.