Andrew Bell’s Market Update: Australia’s Economy Shines ‘Gold’

I hope you were able to see our Opening Ceremony for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. It is amazing to see how we are soaring ahead in the medal tally, and we are on track to have our best performance ever in the Commonwealth Games competition. Apart from a lot of locals who left town in fear of traffic chaos, it has been a wonderful experience hosting the Games here with so much good will, good cheer and clearly, we have had the best opportunity ever to present the Gold Coast to the world. There is no doubt that the Gold Coast is now known by over a billion people who probably knew very little about it previously.

We have certainly taken advantage of this with over 200 pages of advertising over the past couple of weeks in the Gold Coast Bulletin and, as we hoped, we have been getting some outstanding responses. We look forward to seeing continued benefits of the Games flowing forward.

QUEENSLAND BOOMS WITH RECORD GROWTH

Some more good news, and particularly for Queensland. The value of Queensland goods sold overseas has boomed with exports growing by $10 billion in the year to February according to new data just released. State Treasury Department figures show that Queensland’s exports grew to $70 billion during that period of time, with the largest increase coming from coal, and no surprise China still remains Queensland’s largest export destination.

The Reserve Bank also announced no increase in official rates for the month of April. As I mentioned in my last report, there are numerous people starting to suggest we could get a drop in interest rates. However, more significantly, the Reserve Bank themselves have said that there will not be any need for higher interest rates until there is faster wages growth which will trigger some inflationary growth. Quite a way off yet.

STRONG BUSINESS CONDITIONS FOR AUSTRALIANS

Continuing on the economic front, it is interesting to see that the completely independent International Monetary Fund believes that Australia’s economy is likely to grow between 2.5 – 3% per annum over the next five years. That is a good long-range prediction and whilst we would like it over 3%, it still is growth that will give us some security going forward. Given that the last 12 months saw economic growth at 2.1%, to see us in the mid to high 2% range will be a step forward. The OECD suggests that stronger commodity prices and rising jobs growth will be critical pieces for that growth. These forecasts, not only by the OECD but likewise from our own Reserve Bank, implies Australia is about to enter its strongest period of headline economic growth since before the Global Financial Crisis over 10 years ago.

Some other good news is that separate data shows Australian companies are enjoying the strongest business conditions in at least two decades, and that companies expect to continue hiring workers at last year’s record pace. That is really encouraging.

As I mentioned a moment ago, we are certainly on the front foot promoting our spectacular Gold Coast through this period of time, where we have record numbers of visitors to our city. If you are in the market, have a look at last weekend’s Gold Coast Bulletin as you can see how dominate Ray White is here on the Gold Coast. We take our position as market leaders as a great responsibility to continue to get the best possible results for all of our clients here on the Gold Coast.

That is it for this fortnight. I look forward to being with you in two weeks time.