Category Archives: Housing

Building industry recovery looking more likely – more evidence last RBA rate cut unnecessary

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Gene Tunny

Today’s new ABS building approvals data have generated much excitement at the prospect of a building industry recovery, although Queensland’s increase in September was much lower than NSW’s. The Housing Industry Association notes in a media release today that: “Today’s … Continue reading →

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Stop Not Till the Goal is Reached

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Gene Tunny

The developer of Springfield, Maha Sinnathamby, thinks like a winner. No matter what difficulties life throws at him – the collapse of his first property empire or the near collapse of his second, Springfield – he faces each challenge with … Continue reading →

Posted in Brisbane, Housing, Ipswich | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Whole world struggling to manage disaster risk

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Gene Tunny

I was pleased to learn that the World Bank and Government of Japan are hosting the Sendai Dialogue tomorrow and Wednesday this week to discuss how the world better manages disaster risk. This is a critical issue because, assuming no … Continue reading →

Posted in Cairns, Cyclones, Floods, Housing, North Queensland | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Building approvals data difficult to interpret

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Gene Tunny

While I feel the Queensland building industry will recover later this year, it’s difficult to be confident there is any significant improvement in building approvals, which are a reasonably good forward indicator of activity: While growth in the ABS trend … Continue reading →

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Encouraging construction industry data for Qld

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Gene Tunny

The ABS preliminary construction work done data released today were encouraging, with a continuation of growth in construction work done, largely associated with the resources boom: Data on housing construction in States other than Queensland were less encouraging as noted … Continue reading →

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Brisbane housing market recovery call seems right

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Gene Tunny

Given the amount of money washing through the Queensland economy due to the resources boom, I think noted property expert Michael Matusik is right to claim the Brisbane housing market is recovering, as reported in the Courier-Mail: The Greater Brisbane … Continue reading →

Posted in Brisbane, Housing, Macroeconomy | Leave a comment

Good signs for building industry recovery

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Gene Tunny

I was very pleased to see the ABS building approvals data for Queensland today (see chart below), which confirmed in my mind that the building industry is set to recover (see my previous post HIA calls for Government action as … Continue reading →

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HIA calls for Government action as building industry poised to recover

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Gene Tunny

While I think the Housing Industry Association (HIA) has some top-notch economists, the Industry Roundtable Communique it issued today is overly pessimistic: It was agreed that the housing industry is currently facing the worst conditions in decades and a lack … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing, Tax | 1 Comment

Better outlook for building industry in struggling regions

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Gene Tunny

New ABS small area data released yesterday appear to confirm last week’s reported rebound in building approvals is widespread across the Queensland regions, and has even shown up in the struggling regions of the Gold Coast and Far North. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Cairns, Gold Coast, Housing | Leave a comment

Great analysis of rebound in building approvals from HIA

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Gene Tunny

The strong rebound in building approvals across mainland Australia in May was welcome news today, although as noted by my former Treasury colleague Andrew Harvey, now Senior Economist at the Housing Industry Association, there are reasons for the rebound that … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing, Macroeconomy | 1 Comment