Builders temper numbers bounce

Victoria’s economy grew by one-point-four per cent during the June quarter, a little stronger than expected by market watchers.

In contrast, Australia’s economy grew by just 0.7 per cent during the June 2021 quarter.

However, compared with a year earlier, state final demand in Victoria was up by a whopping 10.5 per cent.

Master Builders Victoria CEO Rebecca Casson said the scale of the expansion was heavily related to economic activity in Australia being at an exceptionally low ebb during the April-June 2020 period because of lockdowns and restrictions in place at the time.

Victorian building and construction made a substantial contribution to GDP growth during the June 2021 quarter.

“While the very successful HomeBuilder scheme has propelled home renovations work and new home building, especially detached houses, to very high levels, non-residential building and engineering construction are still weaker than they were a year earlier,” Ms Casson said.

“Much has changed since the start of July 2021, especially given the worsening COVID-19 situation and lockdowns in NSW and Victoria.

“The sheer scale of restrictions on a wide spectrum of economic activities in those places makes it difficult to see how GDP can do anything but shrink in the September 2021 quarter.

“There is a real possibility that the second half of 2021 will see Australia’s economy falling back into recession.”

The building and construction sector is the state’s largest full-time employer accounting for more than 45 per cent of our state’s tax revenue.

During the June 2021 quarter itself, the main sources of growth in the Australian economy were investment spending up 3.2 per cent and day-to-day government spending up 1.3 per cent.

Meanwhile household spending gained 1.1 per cent during the quarter meaning that the economy’s largest slice of demand has expanded by a total of 15.4 per cent over the past 12 months.

The volume of exports from Australia dropped by 3.2 per cent during the June 2021 quarter while imports crept up by 1.5 per cent, bearing in mind that growth in imports subtracts from the overall economic growth rate and vice versa.