Where is the Australian economy going?

The Australian economy is set to grow after a small setback, and commercial property for sale on the Gold Coast is at the forefront.

According to the BIS Shrapnel Long Term Forecasts 2015-2030 report, after three years of neutral ground, the country will boomerang to five years of solid growth. This will be led by a low exchange rate that will culminate in the changes required to bring Australia's economy back up.

This is on the back of very slight growth over the June quarter, which BIS Shrapnel Associate Director of Economics Richard Robinson believes may have alarmed some investors.

"If the June quarter growth is around zero, then through-the-year growth will be around 1.7 per cent (June quarter 2015 compared to June quarter 2014). But we believe this quarter will be a blip on the radar. The economy will recover over the next two quarters – albeit while remaining soft," he said.

The main reason for the recent reduced growth is the downturn in mining investment. However, offsetting this decline will be an expected surge in commercial property building and public engineering construction.

The report from BIS Shrapnel found that Australia's GDP growth from June 2014 to June 2015 was around 1.7 per cent. The annual rate is expected to increase to an average of 3.1 per cent over the next five years, which is great news for those looking to buy commercial property on the Gold Coast.

How the low dollar is helping

The future of Australia's economy depends largely on the exchange rate, one of the most important drivers.

Mr Robinson asserts that in the past, the high Australian dollar has caused turmoil with competitiveness, as it has hindered all domestic non-mining industries, while servicing all significant levels of mining investment.

"Now, it's the fall in the dollar resulting from the fall in commodity prices that will help to rebuild Australia's non-mining export and import-competing industries, facilitating the transition back towards the balanced growth that Australia had before the mining boom," he said.

Being an international tourist destination, this all bids well for commercial property for sale on the Gold Coast. Mr Robinson claims with the reduced cash rate the industry is already beginning to flourish, in particular with visitors from China.

As tourism demand and revenues pick up, tourist facilities will be refurbished, catching up on a decade of neglect. Then we will build new facilities to cater for the growth in demand. The strength of tourism will drive regional growth as we feed, clothe, house, entertain and transport tourists, with a corresponding flow on to the rest of the economy — just as we experienced during the mining boom."

The report states that other industries in the Gold Coast and Australia will benefit too, including business services, finance, agriculture, mining and segments of manufacturing.

Consumers expenditure set to chip in too

Interestingly, the past three years has seen one of the highest household savings rates since the 1980's, according to the report. Consumers have been keeping their purses tightly shit, but this is anticipated to soon change with a decrease in unemployment, low interest rates and price inflation.

This is good tidings for those in the market for retail leasing on the Gold Coast, as the increase in household spending is expected to increase retail turnover over the foreseeable future. In fact, over the next five years the growth in expenditure is forecasted to surge by three per cent per annum. 

Buy commercial property on the Gold Coast

Essentially, the combined factors from the report indicate a rosy future for those looking to buy commercial property on the Gold Coast. If you're interested or you would like to know more, you should talk to the team at Ray White. We can guide you through each step in finding your ideal property, based on your financial standing and objectives.