Booming job market despite flagging property outlook

ANZ research from January 2016 has measured a consistently strong employment growth over the last few months within the Australian market, despite a slowing property outlook.

And with low unemployment rates trending for some time now, employment growth has largely outstripped growth in the working age population, with hiring predominantly strong within a range of services industries.

There also has been a decrease recorded in youth unemployment, which has been linked to the boost in retail and hospitality jobs.

Economic momentum predicted to decline

Although there is currently strong domestic economic data coming out of Australia, instability and tension within international markets are a good reminder that global shocks provide ever-present risks for Australia’s small open economy.

With the global backdrop remaining unstable, the growth in the domestic economy could slow in the second half of the year, especially in residential construction, particularly as the property market loses steam.

A recent survey released by the ANZ-Property Council of Australia highlighted that the property sector is expecting weaker housing construction (and house prices) across most markets in the coming year.

Lower levels of construction activity, poorer secondary market turnover and a reduced wealth effect for Australian households from weaker price growth will have impact on the housing sector’s contribution to economic growth.

So where does the Northern Territory sit?

At the beginning of last year, the CommSec State of the States quarterly report ranked the Northern Territory as Australia’s strongest job market, at the forefront for construction work.

The Department of Employment’s projections for the Northern Territory, 2014 to 2018, highlights that with the expected decrease in Mining investment, employment growth in the Northern Territory is predicted to slow.

Employment growth is however projected to stay moderately strong, increasing by 10.5 per cent in the Northern Territory, as well as in the metropolitan area of Darwin - up by 13.9 per cent.

As the current nationwide growth wave of mining subsides, Deloitte has dubbed the ‘fantastic five’ sectors of gas, agribusiness, tourism, international education and wealth management as the gap filler, together matching the 10 per cent of Gross Domestic Product which mining has created.

Despite the current flagging property outlook going into 2016, Call2View always likes to pull out the positives of the current climate, so here is our silver lining – a booming job market means higher levels of people required for positions and thus a greater need for real estate.

Need to talk to us about buying or selling going forward in 2016? Give us a call on (08) 8932 8858.