The real message to be drawn from CommSec's latest "State of the States" report is that the ACT must continue to diversify its economy if the future is to be as comfortable and prosperous as the past.
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Canberra's historic dependence on the public sector for employment growth and economic activity has traditionally left the community unduly vulnerable to shifts in the political wind.
While the private sector has grown in overall size and significance in recent decades, our city state remains a jurisdiction with a lot of its eggs in just one basket.
On the face of it Canberra's performance, which has seen us jump from sixth place in January 2015 to equal third place with the Northern Territory this year, is impressive, but there are some clear causes for concern.
The most significant is that the main driver of economic growth over the past 12 months has been the ACT government's land release program. Dwelling starts are now running at 48.2 per cent above the 10 year average.
This indicates that the land release program remains the one big lever that the ACT government has in its armoury to stimulate growth.
It is also a reflection on the Land Development Authority's sub-par performance in rolling out new residential land in the preceding years.
The subsequent land drought had the hopefully unintended consequences of driving up block prices and encouraging new subdivisions across the border in Queanbeyan and even as far afield as Murrumbateman.
Both of these are direct results of having the second equal highest rate of population growth [along with NSW] in the Commonwealth at 1.39 per cent.
This, as CommSec chief economist Craig James has noted, creates demand for new home sites.
"The ACT government has got the ability to be able to control the number of homes that are approved for construction, and clearly, they are a fair determinant of how the economy performs."
Although Mr James is correct in saying that this has a flow on effect to the retail sector, with new residents buying furniture, white goods and the like, this is not sufficient to sustain a local economy in the longer term.
The other fly in the ointment is the fallout from the major public service job cuts carried out under the Gillard/Rudd and Abbott governments.
Canberra's current unemployment rate of 5.2 per cent, while enviable by the standards of many other states and territories, is running at 44.4 per cent above our 10 year average.
NSW, which also has an unemployment rate of 5.2 per cent, is 2.4 per cent under its decade average.
Over recent weeks we have seen a range of innovators and business leaders within the Canberra community call for commitments to improved infrastructure and an entrepreneurial focus to take fuller advantage of many of the assets the city already has.
Suggestions have ranged from a complete suite of international flights in and out of the Canberra International Airport to super high speed broadband, not just the NBN, to facilitate the creation of an information technology hub that could attract start ups from around Australia and the Asia Pacific region.
Such proposals appear to be a more sustainable solution to long-term prosperity than continuing to fall back on our limited supply of land as a driver for the local economy.
