The latest ABS figures show that South Australia’s housing sector performance under Premier Rann and Treasurer Foley is the worst of all mainland states.
Housing Finance figures for November 2009 revealed that SA was lagging well behind the rest of the nation in terms of growth in the number and value of housing finance commitments by owner occupiers.
“The value of new housing finance commitments grew 25.8 per cent from November 2008 to November 2009; in SA they grew by less than half the national figure at only 12.6 per cent,” Shadow Minister for Finance Rob Lucas said today.
“A major concern is that the November 2009 figure compared to October 2009 shows a 2 per cent fall compared to a national figure of only 0.4 per cent, which is the biggest slump in the country.
“Put simply, this is the worst performance amongst the mainland states.”
Mr Lucas said the ABS figures also reveal that the number of housing finance commitments (in trend terms) grew 16.9 per cent nationally from November 2008 to November 2009, compared to growth of only 11.8 per cent in SA.
“These figures highlight the uncertainty of the SA housing market under Mr Rann and the Labor Government,” he said.
“Under Mr Rann and Mr Foley, SA has become the nation’s highest taxed state.
“SA’s poor performance also confirms the State Liberals’ fears that the Rann Government has failed to deliver planning and taxation policy conducive to a strong housing and investment market.
“Mr Rann and Mr Foley must now explain publicly why, after eight years in Government, SA’s housing finance performance is falling behind as the rest of the country surges ahead.
“These ABS figures are the most recent in an alarming string of poor performances, including manufacturing activity, exports, building approvals and the ANZ and Olivier Job Indexes.
“There is a worrying trend developing under Mr Rann and Mr Foley and, as long as they’re calling the shots, SA will continue to fall behind the rest of the nation.”
In further damning evidence, this week’s CommSec's “State of the States” report revealed that SA had fallen from second to fourth place in its ranking of state economic performances.