Employment Figures - on par with March 09

The more things change, the more they stay the same. 

Australia's true indication of economic health - the unemployment rate - has returned to the same levels as March 2009, 5.7% (seasonally adjusted).  This is an increase of 1.8% of the historic low of 3.9% in Feb 2008.  In effect, these figures illustrate that employment has remained stagnent for the last three months.  This is in line with our near zero GDP growth figures.

The consensus for unemployment in the medium term is that it will reach 8.5 - 9% by late next year.  But given we have not experienced trends with the same severity as rest of the developed world and have technically avoided a recession, Australia's economic robustness may come to the fore.

Further evidence of Australia's economic robustness is the latest housing finance figures released yesterday.

Housing Investment on the Rise

Figures released by the ABS yesterday show a seasonally adjusted increase in housing finance by 3.6% with an increase in investment committments of 8.9% and owner-occupation increase of 1.9%.

The return of investors to the housing sector is very positive as investment behaviour is generally discretionary and indicative of consumer confidence.  This increase in confidence is reflected in the Westpac Melbourne Institute Survey, released yesterday, which revealed the largest increase in consumer confidence in 22 years.  Australia's small increase in GDP and avoidance of a text book recesssion, largely resulted in consumer confidence reaching the highest level since January 2008.

One Step Closer to Sustainable Planning

On a different note, the new Queensland Planning Act, Sustainable Planning Bill 2009, has passed cabinet and will be tabled in Parliament next week.  The aim of the bill is to streamline applications and incorporates deemed approvals and a new level of assessment - Compliance Assessment - as a means in which to achieve this.  THG will be reviewing the legislation upon it's release next week, so watch this space for more information. 

If you'd like to know more in the meantime, contact our senior planners Adam Nagel or Sarah Farrelly.