It has taken more than a decade but NSW has re-emerged as Australia's strongest state economy.
NSW leads the nation's economic pack having edged out the minerals-rich Western Australia, which has held the number one spot for the past three years, a quarterly review of the states by Australia's biggest bank has found.
The key factor in NSW's economic resurgence has been the strength of the housing sector. New dwelling commencements in NSW were more than 36 per cent above the decade average, said the "State of the States" report [PDF, 300 KB] by the Commonwealth Bank's stockbroking arm, Commsec.
More than 52,000 dwellings were approved in NSW in the 12 months to July, the highest level since May 2000.
Commsec economist Savanth Sebastian said the housing sector had been the state's economic "X-factor".
"That has propelled NSW to the top of the leader board," he said. "It's been a meteoric rise. If anything I think the momentum shift in NSW is going to get stronger over the next six to 12 months."
NSW was ranked in the top spot for dwelling commencements and population growth, and second for retail trade, business investment and unemployment. It ranked third on housing finance and fourth on overall construction work.
"It's well over a decade since NSW was as strong as it is now," Mr Savanth said.
The most recent official growth figures released by the Bureau of Statistics showed growth in NSW's State Final Demand – a key indicator of state economic activity – was the strongest in Australia at 3.6 per cent.
Factors beyond the state government's control – especially record low interest rates and a weaker Australian dollar – have been crucial to NSW's economic improvement.
In another vote of confidence in the NSW economy, international ratings agency Standard and Poor's last week upgraded the outlook for the state's triple-A credit rating.
Mr Baird said the groundwork had been done to allow a pipeline of infrastructure spending in NSW that would underpin future jobs growth and help boost productivity.
"Now is when the jobs start to fall from the sky," he said.
"We are literally going into an age of sunshine for NSW because of the benefits of that infrastructure spending."
For the first time since July 2011, CommSec’s quarterly economic ranking of the states and territories has shown New South Wales lead the pack.
The ranking takes into account economic growth, retail spending, equipment investment, unemployment, construction work, population growth, housing finance and commencements.
Closely following New South Wales is Western Australia, which has fallen from top spot, and the Northern Territory.
Here’s the ranking:
New South Wales Western Australia Northern Territory Victoria Queensland South Australia ACT Tasmania
New South Wales recorded top rankings for population growth and dwelling starts, while it scored second for retail trade, business investment and unemployment, third on housing finance and fourth on overall construction work and economic growth.
Western Australia, while still ranking strongly, lost on retail trade, equipment investment and population growth as the mining boom fades. Housing finance, however, was strongest in the state.
While the Northern Territory ranked third, it is the top on five of the indicators, but third on dwelling starts, and even further down the list for population growth and housing finance.
Victoria and Queensland ranked very closely.
In Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT trend housing finance commitments were recorded as above decade averages.
CommSec’s report notes that the simple reason for New South Wales being propelled to the top of the ranks is “housing”. It suggests the state is playing catch up after years of underbuilding, with demand exceeding supply and pushing the vacancy rate down to record lows. In Western Australia, housing was noted to be the crucial ingredient, along with construction, to sustain the economy.
Australians are set to loosen the purse strings a little as rising house prices give consumer confidence a leg up.
Consumer confidence remains broadly stable, despite taking a hit last week, ANZ chief economist Warren Hogan said.
The ANZ/Roy Morgan consumer confidence survey on Tuesday showed that confidence fell almost two per cent.
Households last week had a more pessimistic take on their financial situation compared with the previous year and were also more downbeat about the economic outlook for the next five years, the report said.
But Mr Hogan said confidence had shown a "surprising" lack of volatility, remaining steady around its long-run average for 10 consecutive weeks.
He said rising house prices were lifting people's spirits.
"Consumer confidence remains broadly stable with house price gains likely providing some offset to concerns related to recent sharemarket losses and volatility on global financial markets," Mr Hogan said.
"Levels of confidence suggest that household spending is likely to grow moderately over 2014 and 2015.
So NSW did not actually RISE to the top, its just that WA fell below it and NSW came out ahead by default.
But we get the claim of" jobs falling from the sky"
And look at the anz shitjibe, same old bs of people FEELING wealthy from the ponzi, will start to spend more even though they are losing jobs and struggling to pay basic bills.
The government is making people poorer ,while trying to make them think they are getting richer. What a great scheme they have going here, guess some of those savvy ' investors' are learning how expensive it is to be 'rich' and savvy, did I mention 'investor' .
Leveraged super funds into the property bubble spelt the final straw for government stupidity. To put all these people at risk like this for their own personal greed must be one of the worst decisions ever made by a government. Not one mention of using your super to invest in legitimate buisiness and provide and build jobs for our future, and kids or grandkids. Do you know why this is ? I will tell you why... Because like ford and holden, they know our jobs are finished and with our wages so high and evrybodies else's so low, they know there is no point going down that road again, they already tried and lost. So now this is all they have left now.
Can you people not see just how bad this is ? Of course not, I would not still be here.....
Just concentrate on property development on those Northen beaches you Sydney snots. There must be a few NSW bears frothing at the mouth.
Newjerk? can you try harder than dig up another person's blog. My first promo was with Billabong and my name in English is modified with a T, am Perth born but also lived in Sydney to make my $$ It's Absolutely Fabulous if it includes brilliant locations, & high calibre tenants..what more does one want? Understand the power of the two "P"" or be financially challenged Even better when there is family who are property mad and one is born in some entitlements.....Understand that beautiful women are the exhibitionists we crave attention, whilst hot blooded men are the voyeurs ... A stunning woman can command and takes pleasure in being noticed. Seems not too many understand what it means to hold and own props and get threatened by those who do. Banks are considered to be law abiding and & rather boring places yeah not true . A bank balance sheet will show capital is dwarfed by their liabilities this means when a portions of loans is falling its problems for the bank.
Australian Property Forum is an economics and finance forum dedicated to discussion of Australian and global real estate markets and macroeconomics, including house prices, housing affordability, and the likelihood of a property crash. Is there an Australian housing bubble? Will house prices crash, boom or stagnate? Is the Australian property market a pyramid scheme or Ponzi scheme? Can house prices really rise forever? These are the questions we address on Australian Property Forum, the premier real estate site for property bears, bulls, investors, and speculators. Members may also discuss matters related to finance, modern monetary theory (MMT), debt deflation, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin Ethereum and Ripple, property investing, landlords, tenants, debt consolidation, reverse home equity loans, the housing shortage, negative gearing, capital gains tax, land tax and macro prudential regulation.
Forum Rules:
The main forum may be used to discuss property, politics, economics and finance, precious metals, crypto currency, debt management, generational divides, climate change, sustainability, alternative energy, environmental topics, human rights or social justice issues, and other topics on a case by case basis. Topics unsuitable for the main forum may be discussed in the lounge. You agree you won't use this forum to post material that is illegal, private, defamatory, pornographic, excessively abusive or profane, threatening, or invasive of another forum member's privacy. Don't post NSFW content. Racist or ethnic slurs and homophobic comments aren't tolerated. Accusing forum members of serious crimes is not permitted. Accusations, attacks, abuse or threats, litigious or otherwise, directed against the forum or forum administrators aren't tolerated and will result in immediate suspension of your account for a number of days depending on the severity of the attack. No spamming or advertising in the main forum. Spamming includes repeating the same message over and over again within a short period of time. Don't post ALL CAPS thread titles. The Advertising and Promotion Subforum may be used to promote your Australian property related business or service. Active members of the forum who contribute regularly to main forum discussions may also include a link to their product or service in their signature block. Members are limited to one actively posting account each. A secondary account may be used solely for the purpose of maintaining a blog as long as that account no longer posts in threads. Any member who believes another member has violated these rules may report the offending post using the report button.
Australian Property Forum complies with ASIC Regulatory Guide 162 regarding Internet Discussion Sites. Australian Property Forum is not a provider of financial advice. Australian Property Forum does not in any way endorse the views and opinions of its members, nor does it vouch for for the accuracy or authenticity of their posts. It is not permitted for any Australian Property Forum member to post in the role of a licensed financial advisor or to post as the representative of a financial advisor. It is not permitted for Australian Property Forum members to ask for or offer specific buy, sell or hold recommendations on particular stocks, as a response to a request of this nature may be considered the provision of financial advice.
Views expressed on this forum are not representative of the forum owners. The forum owners are not liable or responsible for comments posted. Information posted does not constitute financial or legal advice. The forum owners accept no liability for information posted, nor for consequences of actions taken on the basis of that information. By visiting or using this forum, members and guests agree to be bound by the Zetaboards Terms of Use.
This site may contain copyright material (i.e. attributed snippets from online news reports), the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such content is posted to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, and social justice issues. This constitutes 'fair use' of such copyright material as provided for in section 107 of US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed for research and educational purposes only. If you wish to use this material for purposes that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Such material is credited to the true owner or licensee. We will remove from the forum any such material upon the request of the owners of the copyright of said material, as we claim no credit for such material.
Privacy Policy: Australian Property Forum uses third party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our site. These third party advertising companies may collect and use information about your visits to Australian Property Forum as well as other web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here: Google Advertising Privacy FAQ
Australian Property Forum is hosted by Zetaboards. Please refer also to the Zetaboards Privacy Policy