Investing in Australia

Recent months have seen a lot of speculation regarding the state of the property market and the pace at which it will recover.

While the lowering of commodities prices and slowing mining industry will have an impact on certain markets, investing in Australia is still in a pretty positive position.

As federal treasurer Wayne Swan reported in his most recent economic note earlier this week (November 25), the nation has succeeded where others have failed in facing the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

“Unlike other nations suffering from high unemployment, we have created jobs – over 800,000 of them – and more Australians are in paid employment today than ever before in our history,” he said.

“Unlike other nations where private investment has dried up, our companies have spent nearly $983 billion to improve their efficiency and expand production.”

He added that a near balanced budget and a triple-A status credit rating were also setting Australia ahead of the rest.

“It’s fair to say investing in Australia has been in a league of its own over the past five years.”

While economic growth is likely to feel the impact of lower commodities prices and a slowing mining sector, there is still a healthy amount of investment allocated toward resource development.

Minister for resources and energy Martin Ferguson reported yesterday (November 28) that there is $268 billion worth of projects already committed with much more in the planning phases.

The Resources and Energy Major Projects October 2012 report recorded 87 committed projects and 277 being planned.

Resource prosperity will likely continue but at a less volatile rate and will require the right certain circumstances for success.

“In the face of lower commodity prices, the delivery of this pipeline of projects is contingent on keeping production costs down, providing access to skilled labour and increasing our productivity and efficiency,” said Mr Ferguson.

Meanwhile, the traditional markets of Sydney and Melbourne have shown signs of recovery and hint at further progress in the medium term.

By Steve McKnight

Steve McKnight, the founder of PropertyInvesting.com, is a respected property investing authority as well as Australia's #1 best-selling business author.