EMPLOYMENT is up, household confidence regarding personal finance remains positive, but house price growth across the Hunter has slowed, according to Hunter Valley Research Foundation’s latest Hunter Economic Indicators report released on Friday.
Senior research fellow and author of the report Anthea Bill said it was an interesting time for the Hunter’s economy.
‘‘We are coming off the back of a reliance on the mining boom, which peaked in 2013,’’ she said.
‘‘In 2014 we saw the fall out from that.’’
And while the economy was making adjustments it was ‘‘not out of the woods yet.’’
The Hunter unemployment rate has fallen from a 15-year high of 10.3 per cent in March this year to 7.1 per cent at the end of September.
The greatest decline has occurred within the 15 to 24 year old age bracket where unemployment has fallen from one in five to almost one in seven.
However, this may reflect some people giving up the search for work, the report notes.
Fluctuations in the labour market could be signaling of a shifting economy from mining to non-mining sectors.
See your ad here
Currently about 298,500 people are employed throughout the Hunter, an improvement 4.5 per cent since March 2014.
The report attributes this to growth in aged-care, arts, recreational services and building industries – where low interest rates have boosted the dollar value of residential investment.
Despite employment gains, short-term and long-term measures of consumer confidence in the regional economy have fallen in the last quarter. The pessimists have outnumbered the optimists since June 2014.
The share of businesses expecting to see deterioration, rather than improvement, of the regional economy over the next 12 months has also risen. However, short-term and long-term business measures of businesses own performance have shown improvement in the September quarter with fewer citing a lack of sales as a major impediment.
The report attributes economic ‘‘jitters’’ to concerns about China’s slowing economy, disappointing national growth rates and a cooling of the local house market – which has seen dwelling approvals in the Hunter steady.
Over the year to August 2015, 3409 Hunter dwellings were approved to be built, a 12 per cent decrease since 2014, while a trend of rising house prices, since 2012, has slowed in the last quarter. If this trend continues it may work to slow underlying economic growth in 2016, the report said.
The report is due to be released at a business breakfast held at Wests New Lambton on Friday.
source:theherald.com.au
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 