Victoria's everything boom: Pete Wargent

Victoria's apartment construction on the other hand has exploded to a record high (as expected from leading indicators), with the value of work done an astronomical 416 per cent higher than a decade earlier in chain volume measures terms. 

 

Sydney doesn't build so many houses, so a lot of activity is expected, but for Melbourne this is a boom-and-a-half!

 

It's an everything boom for Victorian construction with public and engineering works also going on a tear. 

 

Queensland engineering construction is also finally on the rise again after the state's multi-year downturn. 

Adding in detached housing construction, Victoria's construction super-boom over 16 consecutive quarters and counting helped to increase total work done nationally in the second quarter by 1.6 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms. 

 

Eight consecutive quarterly increases in South Australia have also helped to offset the resources and housing construction weakness in Western Australia.

Construction work in New South Wales is set to top out now as apartment starts decline. 

 

 

In other news skilled job vacancies were up by 4.7 per cent from a year earlier to be 30.5 per cent above the October 2013 nadir in July 2018, according to the latest Department of Employment figures. 

 

The seasonally adjusted monthly result was up just a notch following three consecutive declines. 

 

Unsurprisingly Victoria scored well here too, with falling unemployment looking like a shoo-in for Melbourne. 

In Western Australia vacancies were up 16.3 per cent over the past year, pointing to brighter days ahead across the Nullarbor.

Nationally, though, the growth in job ads seems to have stalled, with an election to follow - and that rarely inspires confidence in employers.