Category Archives: Housing

Grattan joins fight against stamp duty

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Leading Australian think tank the Grattan Institute has joined the fight against stamp duty on property transactions (see Renovating housing policy and Jessica Irvine’s article). Grattan notes (on p.32): Stamp duty and pension asset tests create large disincentives to households … Continue reading →

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Housing outlook improving

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Yesterday’s building approvals data from the ABS should be encouraging for the Queensland building industry because they signal a recovery in housing construction, just as approvals of new apartment stock are declining. Approvals of private houses are trending upwards (first … Continue reading →

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Good signs for building industry, but conditions will remain weak this quarter

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Yesterday’s new ABS data on housing loans were a good sign for the Queensland building industry, as they confirmed strong growth through the year (at 5.8%) in lending for the construction and purchase of new dwellings (also see the HIA media … Continue reading →

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Still waiting for building industry recovery

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Gene Tunny

The Queensland building industry will continue to experience lean times over coming months with building approvals remaining significantly lower than they were before the financial crisis (see chart below based on today’s latest ABS data). While seasonally adjusted building approvals … Continue reading →

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Ipswich will play important role in eventual recovery of Qld building industry

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Gene Tunny

With Springfield continuing to grow and a new master-planned community being developed at Ripley Valley, Ipswich will play an important role in the eventual recovery of Queensland’s building industry from its current weak condition. Indeed, residential land data published today … Continue reading →

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Queenslanders spending, but not building

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Gene Tunny

It was a week of mixed economic news for Queensland, with the latest ABS data showing retail spending is growing reasonably well in Queensland, while building approvals continue at low levels. Queensland is out-performing the rest of Australia on retail … Continue reading →

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Loans data confirm very slow recovery in housing – is regulation constraining the sector?

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Gene Tunny

The Housing Industry Association (HIA) gave an apt summary of today’s ABS housing finance data in the title of its media release Home lending up but not by enough. The Queensland data (see my chart below) are consistent with building … Continue reading →

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Qld defies national trend in capital spending – Qld resources sector investment hasn’t peaked yet

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Consistent with yesterday’s data on construction activity (see my post from this morning), ABS data released today show private sector capital spending in Queensland has not yet fallen from a peak, as national capital spending has due to a drop … Continue reading →

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Resources sector investment hasn’t peaked yet in Qld – we now lead Australia in construction

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Unlike the rest of Australia, construction activity increased in Queensland in the March quarter. This was due to heavy, so-called engineering construction, no doubt resources sector-related, as residential and non-residential building activity (i.e. houses, flats, office buildings, shopping centres, etc) continues … Continue reading →

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More signs of slowing growth in resources sector – bad news for Qld budget

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Gene Tunny

Queensland Treasury already made a big downward revision of $1.4 billion over four years in mining royalties in the 2012-13 Mid-Year Fiscal and Economic Review last December, and it may need to shave some more off given the bad news … Continue reading →

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