Western Australia is the country’s proverbial boomtown, with a rich economy attracting a growing wave of Australians and international immigrants eager to “go west” and live the good life.
The Commonwealth Bank’s latest quarterly economic report on each state and territory and how they compare to each other shows mining-heavy WA is far ahead on key metrics such as unemployment, private sector growth and state final demand, which calculates domestic economic activity excluding exports.
WA’s unemployment rate stands at around 3.6 per cent, the lowest in the country.
Victoria, by contrast, has an unemployment rate of 4.3 per cent.
Western Australia is the country’s proverbial boomtown, with a rich economy attracting a growing wave of Australians and international immigrants eager to “go west” and live the good life. A couple is seen on Scarborough Beach in Perth.
State final demand (SFD), a broad measure of demand for goods and services in an economy, in WA grew 4.1 per cent over the year to June, the report said, more than double recorded growth rates in South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria.
The SFD grew by 2.1 per cent in New South Wales and 2.6 per cent in Queensland.
“The strongest state economy in the country remains WA, with economic opportunities attracting interstate and overseas migrants to the state,” the report states.
‘Western Australian consumers are also experiencing the highest level of spending growth in the country.
‘WA is the only state in the country where the private sector contributes more than 50 per cent of annual economic growth.
“The housing market in Perth is rising, but from a lower base due to weak long-term performance, meaning housing affordability remains comparatively better than other cities despite recent price increases.”
Wages are also growing at a healthy pace in the mining state, 4.2 per cent above the national average.
Good economic conditions are driving population growth, with a 3.3 percent increase in the number of people living in the state over the year.
The figure is the highest population growth rate in the country and WA remains the state with the highest demand for internal migrants alongside Queensland.
The mining industry dominates economic activity in WA, accounting for 50 per cent of gross state product.
WA’s unemployment rate stands at around 3.6 per cent, the lowest in the country. Perth in the photo
Iron ore giants such as BHP and Rio Tinto operate vast mining and railway networks that ship material from the heart of the state to the port for export.
The state produced 860 million tonnes of iron ore with a sales value of $139 billion in 2023, the WA Department of Energy and Mines says.
But the boom has some expected downsides.
Perth now has the tightest rental vacancy rate in the country, according to the latest figures from the Australian Real Estate Institute, at just 0.4 per cent.
“A healthy vacancy rate is around 3 percent, indicating that markets are currently tight across the country, keeping rental growth elevated,” the report states.
