The domestic economy is in good shape with the business conditions still above long-term averages, record high employment index, retail trade rising, and growth in retail trade, reports leading business and financial commentator, Peter Switzer.

Results of the July NAB business survey reports: 

• The business condition index recorded +12.4 points (long term average +5.7 points). A slight drop down from the +14.1 points result in June.
•  The business confidence index rose to +6.6 points (long-term average +6.0). A 20-month low of +5.6 points was recorded the previous month.
•  The employment index had a new record high of +9.58 (long term average +1.7 points).  Mr. Switzer indicated that this index is an excellent gauge of how a business is travelling and their positivity for the future – their willingness to employ staff.

The average credit card debt grew by $56.40 in May to $3,251.30 which is an increase of 4.1% over the year. This is the strongest yearly growth rate in over 7 years. While some would say this is a negative, Mr. Switzer indicates this is a positive for some businesses as they would be beneficiaries of this spending.

Retail trade has witnessed three consecutive months of growth with 0.4% in June, 0.4% in May and 0.5% in April. Annual spending growth moved from 2.5% to 2.9%.  

In positive property and construction news, CommSec reported that council approvals for new homes were up 6.4% in June which is the greatest increase since January. A record rolling total of house approvals for Greater Brisbane has been logged – sitting at 14,715 for the 12 months to June.

Commsec also indicated a joint Westpac/Melbourne Institute survey recorded the best results in 4.5 years in regards to the consumer sentiment index, with growth grew of 3.9% in July to 106.1. The long term average of this index is 101.4, with a reading of above 100 indicating optimism.

Trade surplus for May increased from $725 to $1,873 million in June which was the 11^th surplus in 13 months.

Grant funding of $230,000 has been approved by the Queensland Government for Brisbane City Council to jointly construct a business case for a new bridge that would connect Kangaroo Point and the Eagle Street Pier precinct, reports brisbanedevelopment.com.

The proposed Kangaroo Point Bridge would be a cycle and pedestrian bridge.

In 2013, as part of the Brisbane City Council’s Master Plan, a proposal for a 395m long cable support pedestrian bridge was developed by Richard Kirk Architects. This aim of this design was to deliver a bridge that would “minimise the impact on the river and contribute an elegant form to an evolving city skyline.”

This proposal comes as drilling has just begun on the $70 million Queens Wharf ‘Neville Bonner Bridge’ which will connect the $3 billion Queens Wharf Integrated Resort to South Bank with pedestrian access. This drilling phase which involves detailed engineering investigations, will take around three weeks to complete with the next step being Economic Development Queensland to to give final approval of the design.

Hannah believes Brisbane will be a World City within 5 years. 

Concept images from the 2013 design are available at  https://brisbanedevelopment.com/as-one-cbd-bridge-commences-another-receives-business-case-funding/. 

‘Forty Tank’, an 11-storey office tower with retail and parking located at 40 Tank Street Brisbane has been purchased by two Charter Hall funds in an off-market deal for $93 million, reports Core Logic.

The seller in the deal, Seyall Tank, who purchased the property on behalf of the 40 Tank Street Trust back in 2016 for just $56 million, has made a huge 66% capital gain. The site is in a prime location, just a short walk from the upcoming Queen Street Wharf development.

Charter Halls has also purchased the site known as No. 1 Brisbane for $93.96 million. Charter Hall group CEO & Managing Director, David Harrison said the purchase opens doors for future options including possible re-development in years to come due to the “existing 81-storey approved tower scheme.”

Last month Charter Hall, along with Investa JV Lodges received the green light for a $650 million office at 370 Queen Street. The original proposal includes a 40-storey tower of approx. 50,000 sqm of office space, basement car parking, gym, childcare and end of trip facilities.

Mr Harrison is drawing on Charter Hall’ Sydney success for inspiration, indicating an ideal redevelopment of the sites would be similar to 333 George Street project in Sydney. 333 George Street is a multi-use building fronting George Street which encompasses 15 levels of office space, 12,500 sqm of office space, and three levels of retail, and includes five levels of cascading rooftop terraces.

The office market is reportedly moving well and has "swung into recovery mode", reports Nick Nichols of businessnewsaus.com.au based on the latest Savils’ research. 

Hannah believes Brisbane will be a World City within 5 years. 

The Queensland State Government has released an update of the 2018 State Infrastructure Plan reporting $45.8 billion will be spent of infrastructure over the next four years, an increase of $3 billion from the previous year.

In 2018-19, expenditure of $11.6 billion is expected to support up to 38,000 jobs.

Minister for State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning, Cameron Dick said the plan will be of benefit to all Queenslanders and considers projects on all scales.

“This update highlights the opportunities and challenges in planning and delivering infrastructure for our fast-growing state, and that diverse infrastructure solutions are needed across Queensland – it is not a one size fits all approach. Delivering prosperity in Queensland requires a partnership approach between all levels of governments and the private sector.

“In the six months since the release of the previous Infrastructure Pipeline Report, the Palaszczuk Government has committed to upgrading the Logan, Caboolture and Ipswich hospitals; upgrading the M1 from Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill and Varsity Lakes to Tugun; the Beerburrum to Nambour Rail Upgrade, the Lower Fitzroy River Infrastructure Project and the New Performing Arts Venue,” said Mr Dick.

One of the key areas is roads and transport infrastructure where $21.7 billion will be spent over the next four years, supporting 19,200 jobs during its lifespan, $679 million to be spent of upgrades to regional hospitals

Theurbandeveloper.com reports Deloitte Access Economics has indicated the Queensland engineering construction outlook is in good shape, the best it has been in recent times.

Hannah Schuhmann says the Brisbane CBD property market is due to benefit greatly with one of the seven new projects added to the pipeline being the ‘Brisbane Live’ development as part of the Cross River Rail project.   The State Government has committed to fully fund the $5.4 billion project, which is the largest state funded infrastructure pledge in over ten years. 

Hannah believes Brisbane will be a World City within 5 years. 

Fast forward 20 years and an additional 1.5 million people are expected to call South East Queensland home discusses brisbanedevelopment.com in a recent opinion article.

Over the last five years, ABS data has showed the growth rate of SEQ has been by over 56,000 or 1.75% per year, which has actually been considered a ‘lull.’ As of 2017, the growth rate had increased to 2.2% per annum, back to the approximately ten-year average rate.

Figures from February 2017 released by Transport and Main Roads say the M1 between Brisbane and Gold Coast sees 144,437 vehicles per day, with the maximum of 170,000 per day expected to be reached by 2020.

So what is next for transport infrastructure? Is high speed rail the answer?

British designer Andreas Vogler has developed a high speed train that could get the 80km Brisbane to Gold Coast trip done in 10 minutes. Yes, that’s right, 10 minutes. The concept, called the ‘AeroLiner3000’, is a double decker train that could carry up to 1,400 people, travelling at 400 km per hour. No doubt this would be a very costly exercise, so costly in fact that there aren’t even any rough figures to work off.

The concept of a ‘smart city’, which would be completely car free environment has been discussed many times. Not sure how realistic this is. The article states there is ample sugar cane land between Brisbane and Gold Coast that has been locked away by the Queensland Government for future state use. Is this a potential location where the site would only be serviced by the above mentioned high speed rail, trams and cycle ways? I’m sure there would be many people ready to sign up for accommodation in a space like this.

With the aim of not turning our wonderful south east corner into a traffic nightmare like Sydney, some big plans need to be made before population soars to 4.9 million in 2036.

For a high speed rail concept video and artist impression images, visit  https://brisbanedevelopment.com/seqs-silver-bullet-solution-high-speed-rail/