Economic State of the States | CommSec Report

How are Australia’s states and territories performing? 

Each quarter CommSec attempts 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 long-term averages to determine the level of “normal” interest rates; Commsec have done the same with the economic indicators.

For each state and territory, latest readings for the key indicators were compared with decade averages – that is, against the “normal” performance.

Key Findings: 

• NSW has solidly held the position as the best performing economy, at or near the top on all indicators.
• Victoria has lifted to second spot on the economic performance rankings but there is little to separate the state from the ACT.
• The ACT has eased from second spot to third due to a softening of the job market in recent months.
• Tasmania remains in fourth spot and is joined by Queensland.
• There is then a small gap to South Australia, in sixth position followed by Northern Territory in seventh.
• Western Australia continues to lag other economies and annual growth rates remain below national averages on all indicators.

Read the full CommSec report here