In the 5 years from mid-2016 median house prices in Cairns went almost precisely nowhere (units rose by about 5%). However, over the same period median rents for houses and units increased by about 23%, opening up a significant gap between the two metrics. In the almost-three years since then we’ve seen rents increase another 24% while median house prices have surged a full 40% and as a result partly, but nowhere near fully, closed that gap. Over the course of the 8-year period rents are up 50-52% while median prices of units and houses are up 32-39%. The post The changing (and rising) face o ..read more

Last month we reported a slight decline (-100) in the number of Trend employment in Cairns after a run of nine positive months. This month we have seen that decline revised away and we see an additional 600 added to Trend employment and the run of positive months extended to 11. This revision has also seen the unemployment rate revised down to 4.6% where it remains this month. Trend employment growth has improved to 4.2% y/y which is well above State (3.6%) and National (2.7%) rates of growth. However, we must note that this growth has come exclusively from part-time positions (+10,000 over th ..read more

The most recent data from BITRE (up to Feb 2024) shows that the number of passengers from and to Japan via Cairns Airport has hit recent highs again… The post Passengers from/to Japan hits new highs appeared first on Conus Consultancy Services ..read more

The Cairns Regional Council and their Economic Recovery Sub-Committee have contracted Conus Business Consultancy Services to conduct an Economic Impact Assessment (EIA) to determine the impacts of TC Jasper and the subsequent flooding event. The EIA will consider both the Cairns Regional Council Local Government Area as well as the broader Cairns Region and will be used to assist Council in formulating their Disaster Recovery responses, and to better plan for such events in the future. In order for us to gather as much data as possible to inform this work we have created an on-line Survey. We ..read more

For the fifth consecutive month Trend employment in Cairns lifted again in August (+600), although we remain 2.1% down from a year ago. The growth was split between full-time and part-time employment, although full-time employment is still down for the year. Once again most of the full-time gains came from males while females saw larger increases in part-time work. Over the course of the year all the decline in employment has come in the female cohort and that in turn has been driven by a steady decline in female participation (reversing the moves we saw during the COVID period). In recent mon ..read more

Despite a string of interest rate hikes that took the Cash Rate from 0.1% to 4.1%, the real estate market in Cairns has remained remarkably robust. In the 7+ years since June 2016 rents for both 3-bed houses and 2-bed units have increased by about 45%, while median prices for house and units are both up about 25%. This 20% gap opened up in the years running up to the COVID pandemic and has remained relatively constant since. The increase in regional migration that the pandemic initiated, combined with the fact that prices is Cairns were at relatively low levels, saw the market rally strongly i ..read more

The data from Cairns Airport for July shows a very solid pick up in both international and domestic passenger numbers. Our Trend estimate suggests that total monthly numbers are now approaching 400,000 which is only 7.5% below pre-COVID levels at this time of year. Most of this shortfall is from the international sector where passenger numbers, despite some encouraging recovery, are still 20% below their pre-COVID levels. If we consider the running annual total, international passenger numbers now sit slightly above 50% of where they were at this time in 2019. The TRA monthly snapshot tourism ..read more

Data for the May 2023 quarter shows that while Public Sector employment across the nation has remained relatively static over recent quarters, here in Queensland there has been a distinct move up. Since August 2014 Public Sector employment across Australia has grown by 37.8%, far outstripping the Private Sector which has managed just 19.3% over the same period. However, when we consider things since the start of the COVID pandemic a very different picture emerges. Public Sector employment since Feb 2020 has been virtually static (actually it’s declined by slightly less than 0.1%) while the Pri ..read more

We were fortunate to co-author the Queensland: Future State Report for ANZ with Gene Tunny from Adept Economics. The report was launched in Brisbane on Tuesday by ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott. The report has garnered plenty of interest and you can download it from the ANZ Bluenotes website here. The post ANZ Queensland: Future State Report appeared first on Conus Consultancy Services ..read more

A move lower in participation over recent months, combined with some healthy employment growth, has seen the Trend unemployment rate in Cairns move lower and hit a record low of just 3.0%. Even with this move down in participation, the labour market still looks very strong. Growth in Female participation has been particularly strong over the course of thew past few years and we now see the Trend female unemployment rate at just 1.8% with males at 4.2%. Employment growth, at 6.3%, remains strong when compared to +3.9% for QLD, +4.0% in Greater Brisbane and +3.7% for the Rest of Queensland. The ..read more