Highlights
- The Board at its meeting on 7 November decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 1.5%, with the
last rate change being 15 months ago in August 2016. - Global economic conditions have strengthened over the past year. Business investment growth has
picked up, particularly in the advanced economies, and consumption growth has been resilient. - Wage growth remains low in most countries, as does core inflation. Headline inflation rates are
generally lower than at the start of the year, largely reflecting the earlier decline in oil
prices. - Nationally, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.6% in the September quarter 2017,
following a rise of 0.2% in the June quarter 2017. - In financial year terms, State Final Demand (SFD) rose 2.0% in 2016-17. This result was driven by
an increase in household consumption, more than offsetting falls in business investment (down 0.5%)
and dwelling investment. - Trend employment in Queensland rose 0.3% (or 7,400 persons) in September 2017. Trend employment
in Queensland was 4.1% (or 95,800 persons) higher over the year to September 2017. - After Victoria (up 96,600 persons), Queensland (up 95,800 persons) was the second largest
contributor to the 335,500 persons gain in national employment over the past year, with all states
recording growth over the period. - In the housing market, conditions continue to vary considerably around the country. Housing
prices have been rising briskly in some markets, while in others they have been declining. In
Sydney, where prices have increased significantly, there have been further signs that conditions
are easing. In the eastern capital cities, a considerable additional supply of apartments is
scheduled to come on stream over the next couple of years. - In September 2017, trend total dwelling units approved in Queensland accounted for 18.5% of
Australia’s total dwelling unit approvals. Private sector house approvals in Queensland accounted
for 22.1% of Australia’s private sector house approvals.