<\/p>\n
In today’s show Simon Pressley<\/strong> from Propertyology has been analysing the latest employment data for locations right across Australia and has found some interesting discoveries that will impact property.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kevin<\/b>:\u00a0 As any seasoned investor is going to tell you, employment trends can be a precursor to property market trends. Propertyology\u2019s Simon Pressley has spent quite a considerable amount of time analyzing the latest employment data for locations right around Australia. He\u2019s come up with some pretty interesting discoveries that we\u2019re going to talk about.<\/p>\n Hi, Simon. Thanks for your time.<\/p>\n Simon<\/b>:\u00a0 Thanks for having me, Kevin.<\/p>\n Kevin<\/b>:\u00a0 Simon, firstly, what did you find out?<\/p>\n Simon<\/b>:\u00a0 Looking at employment trends is something we do several times throughout the year, Kevin, because it\u2019s important to see where the jobs are that people might move towards.<\/p>\n Nationally, Australia is actually performing a lot better than broad unemployment rates would suggest. Obviously, over the last couple of years, unemployment rates have trended up \u2013 not to alarming levels \u2013 but we\u2019ve actually created a lot more jobs. There are 3% more jobs here in Australia today than two years ago.<\/p>\n Kevin<\/b>:\u00a0 I know it\u2019s one of the factors you need to look at when you\u2019re determining where you want to invest. It\u2019s a pretty good one, too. Where does it rank in importance from some of the other factors?<\/p>\n Simon<\/b>:\u00a0 I would always say affordability is the number one consideration we look for. But employment and economic development would be a very close second.<\/p>\n Kevin<\/b>:\u00a0 Have you noticed any trends in there with employment and things like developments and infrastructure around Australia?<\/p>\n Simon<\/b>:\u00a0 There is. Infrastructure, depending on the nature <\/b>of the project, can create a lot of jobs, but it depends. For example, Northern Territory \u2013 Darwin specifically \u2013 has created really good jobs over the last two years, but a big chunk of that was the Equus LNG Project, so it\u2019s a short-term job creation factor. There\u2019s devil in the detail when looking at job data. It\u2019s not just looking for big numbers; it\u2019s looking for the sustainability of it.<\/p>\n Kevin<\/b>:\u00a0 How important is it to differentiate between actual job numbers and unemployment rates?<\/p>\n Simon<\/b>:\u00a0 Look. It\u2019s critically important, I think. Generally speaking, what we read in the media about employment is a very broad unemployment rate, and even then, it\u2019s usually \u201cQueensland is this, WA is that.\u201d Well, as a property investor, that\u2019s really useless information to us. We\u2019re not going to invest in the whole state.<\/p>\n Even if you have stripped down an unemployment rate, to say, one city \u2013 like Brisbane \u2013 we see more value in what is the trend of that? You can have an unemployment rate that might be above the national average but fast trending down because it\u2019s creating lots of jobs. Looking more at the job creation data rather than the broad unemployment rates is a lot more valuable to us.<\/p>\n Kevin<\/b>:\u00a0 What did you find out state by state?<\/p>\n Simon<\/b>:\u00a0 State by state, Victoria and New South Wales have performed very strongly, and there\u2019s no coincidence there that Sydney and Melbourne have had really strong property markets. At a state level, New South Wales has 4% more jobs today than two years ago against a national average of 3%. Victoria has 2.9% more jobs. The big surprise in there for some would be Tasmania. Of all the eight states and territories, it\u2019s performed the best. There are 5.5% more jobs in Tasmania today, Kevin, than two years ago.<\/p>\n Kevin<\/b>:\u00a0 Why is that? What\u2019s driving that?<\/p>\n Simon<\/b>:\u00a0 Part of it, I think, is a change of government about 18 months ago. Tasmania had a 16-year reign \u2013 from memory \u2013 of the same state government, which is a long time for one party to be in office. I think just a fresh face. Tasmania is really benefiting from what we know as the Asian century. Its industry drivers there are perfectly placed to benefit from job creation stuff as it takes advantage of the Asian century.<\/p>\n Kevin<\/b>:\u00a0 Of course, a majority of people choose to live in the eastern states in some of the capital cities, and you get down into the regional areas and it\u2019s pretty sparse in some ways. Is that actually changing?<\/p>\n Simon<\/b>:\u00a0 Look. I think we can be guilty as human beings for generalizing too much. Some say that capital cities are better than regions, and regions are mean risk in all that stuff. Well, it\u2019s a really general comment. There are risks in some regions, and there are risks in some capital cities. But there is some really exciting employment data in some of the regions.<\/p>\n The best performing region in all of Australia over the last two years has been the Orana region, which is central west New South Wales. The official capital of the Orana region is Dubbo, and there are 32.6% extra jobs in the Orana region today compared to two years ago.<\/p>\n Kevin<\/b>:\u00a0 What\u2019s behind that?<\/p>\n Simon<\/b>:\u00a0 It\u2019s one of Australia\u2019s best agricultural sectors. We\u2019ve probably all heard that terminology Australia is Asia\u2019s food bowl. Dubbo itself isn\u2019t an agricultural town, but it\u2019s a big city that services a broad agricultural region. That\u2019s one factor behind it. There\u2019s some tourism out there. The Western Plains Zoo is expanding, and there have been a few infrastructure projects in the region, as well.<\/p>\n Kevin<\/b>:\u00a0 You mentioned Sydney and Melbourne as the two highlights out of the report. What about some of the other capital cities? You mentioned Brisbane, but what about Perth? You mentioned Hobart, what about Perth and Darwin?<\/p>\n Simon<\/b>:\u00a0 Yes. Darwin has created the most jobs of the capital cities, 8.3%, but when we really look closer at that data, that really relates to a big influx of jobs in the first of those last two years, and that was directly related to that big gas project that we spoke about. The devil is in the details in the Darwin data.<\/p>\n In Perth, there\u2019s 2.4% more jobs created over the last two years \u2013 which, at least, is positive data \u2013 but it is below the national average. We should expect that understanding that a big part of Perth\u2019s economy is heavily influenced by iron ore and what\u2019s been happening there.<\/p>\n Kevin<\/b>:\u00a0 You talk about the influences. You look at Canberra, some pretty big influences there, but it\u2019s all based on what\u2019s happening in politics.<\/p>\n Simon<\/b>:\u00a0 Yes, definitely. About 28.5% \u2013 from memory \u2013 of all jobs in the nation\u2019s capital of Canberra are government jobs one way or another, and obviously, it\u2019s widely known there\u2019s been a lot of shedding of jobs there as governments try to balance budgets. Of all the capital cities in Australia, Canberra is the only one where there has been a decline in jobs \u2013 2.2% fewer jobs today than two years ago, Kevin.<\/p>\n Kevin<\/b>:\u00a0 Yes. It\u2019s a bit of a cot case, the old Canberra. You drive around there and you see a lot of vacant buildings, as well.<\/p>\n Simon<\/b>:\u00a0 Yes, it\u2019s had a lot of extra housing supply, mainly unit stock there, so it\u2019s a double whammy.<\/p>\n Kevin<\/b>:\u00a0 Yes. I\u2019ve been talking to Simon Pressley from Propertyology. The website is Propertyology.com.au, and a great report. That\u2019s available on your website, Simon?<\/p>\n Simon<\/b>:\u00a0 It is indeed, Kevin.<\/p>\n Kevin<\/b>:\u00a0 Yes. Good stuff, and great talking to you, mate. Thank you for your time.<\/p>\n Simon<\/b>:\u00a0 Thanks, Kevin. All the best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In today’s show Simon Pressley from Propertyology has been analysing the latest employment data for locations right across Australia and has found some interesting discoveries that will impact property. Transcript: Kevin:\u00a0 As any seasoned investor is going to tell you, employment trends can…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176692473,"featured_media":5062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,13,25],"tags":[101],"class_list":["post-25253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kevin-turner-sponsored-channels","category-latest-story","category-sponsored-channels","tag-podcast"],"yoast_head":"\nTranscript:<\/h4>\n