Tag Archives: buildingapprovals

Qld Government likely to go into election campaign with weak economy

New ABS data released today show a large drop in engineering construction activity – i.e. the heavy construction activity that has been largely associated with the resources sector in recent years. At the same time as this drop is occurring, … Continue reading

Posted in Housing, Macroeconomy, Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Good employment outlook for Qld, but still waiting for strong economic recovery

Steve Austin had a good chat with Nick Behrens from CCIQ yesterday morning on 612 ABC Brisbane, covering the economic outlook for Queensland and the Queensland Plan (What the job market in Queensland will look like in the future). Nick … Continue reading

Posted in Housing, Labour market, Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Brisbane to have a denser inner city, but urban sprawl as well

I’ve written before about how residential building development is being concentrated in a few former commercial areas in the inner city and outer suburban areas such as North Lakes and Springfield (Where is residential development occurring in the Brisbane metro … Continue reading

Posted in Housing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Queensland Treasurer will deliver necessary though unpopular Budget

Today the Queensland Treasurer will deliver a State Budget that is necessary, but which is likely to be unpopular. It is necessary because getting State debt under control and restoring our AAA credit rating needs to be done now, to reduce … Continue reading

Posted in Budget, Housing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Qld residential building recovery due to new apartments and townhouses

After the bad news about the recent slump in consumer confidence – which hopefully is just a short-term post-budget reaction – it’s good to see a recovery in residential building, which the Treasury and RBA are hoping will help drive … Continue reading

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

Fiscal restraint impacting Queensland economy

While containing reasonably good news for the national economy, today’s new National Accounts data from the ABS suggest the December quarter of last year was a lacklustre one for the Queensland economy, with the (albeit imperfect) measure of State Final … Continue reading

Posted in Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Residential building approvals have recovered nicely – but some weakness still in regions

It appears Master Builders Queensland was right to report last month that Queensland builders are optimistic (see my post on the report), with today’s new residential building approvals from the ABS showing a strong upward trend nationally and in Queensland … Continue reading

Posted in Housing, Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Billions of benefits from selling Gladstone and Townsville ports

My colleague and friend Brad Rogers, who is also Secretary of the Queensland branch of the Economic Society of Australia, has written a nice post arguing for privatisation of Queensland’s Government-owned ports at his new blog: Queensland Ports For Sale Brad … Continue reading

Posted in Budget, Housing, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Where is residential development occurring in the Brisbane metro area?

Every month the ABS releases new data on residential building approvals for Level 2 Statistical Areas (SA2s), which broadly correspond to suburbs, at least in the major cities. I’ve mapped the number of approvals for suburbs in the Brisbane metropolitan … Continue reading

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

Good news for Qld building industry as new apartment approvals surge

Conditions will certainly improve in the Queensland building industry over 2014 as residential building approvals continue to recover (see first chart below based on the new ABS data), although we shouldn’t get too excited yet because the recovery appears to … Continue reading

Posted in Housing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments