WA snapping at the heels of South Australia as best economic performer in the country, CBA says

This State has leapfrogged over Victoria and is poised to overtake South Australia as the hottest economy in the country, according to an economist at Commonwealth Bank. A strong workforce and good record getting construction work done has helped keep the croweaters at the top of the country’s economic leaderboard for another quarter on the trot, according to the latest State of the States health check report from CBA released at the weekend. Deemed the “most consistent performer” for the period, South Australia ranked first in four out of the bank’s eight economic barometres — including unemployment, economic growth and construction work — used to determine who takes the crown. While the quarter marked another win for SA, Western Australia is snapping at its heels. The sandgropers took second place overall, pushing Victoria back to third place. With annual population growth rate at about 3.3 per cent, WA has the highest relative and absolute population growth in the country, a metric CBA considers critical to a State’s economic success. Perth’s population recently edged past 2.3 million and is tipped to reach 2.6 million by 2030, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The increase is also putting pressure on housing stock and pushing up prices. WA also maintained the strongest economic momentum, or consistent annual growth growth rankings annually, CBA found. WA also spent the most money on equipment investment, a metric up 34.5 per cent on the decade average. “Overall, economies have slowed in response to higher interest rates, but have generally remained resilient, underpinned by firm population growth and low unemployment,” CommSec chief economist Craig James said. “Justifying South Australia’s position on top of the rankings is the fact that it ranks first on four of the eight indicators. But there are signs the economy is losing momentum as shown by its sixth ranking on the annual rate of change across the indicators. “Western Australia remains on top of the leaderboard of the annual growth rates of the eight key economic indicators. WA has the necessary momentum to pass South Australia to attain top spot in coming quarters.” But WA didn’t fare as well in construction work, with completed work down 2.2 per cent on the decade average. It has gained ground on annual growth rates however, up 21.4 per cent. Largely blaming labour shortages, builders in WA have struggled to deliver on the white hot demand for new homes since the pandemic. And despite increased living costs in WA it came second behind the ACT on real retail spending, which was 11.3 per cent above its decade average. Queensland, NSW, the ACT and Tasmania shared fourth place overall on CBA’s ranking.