The State of the States report, published Monday, kept the ACT in third place overall in an examination of states and territories across eight economic indicators.

The territory trailed NSW and Victoria and was followed by Tasmania.

While investment on new plant and equipment was down 3.9 per cent, the bulk of April data was relatively good news for Canberra.

The ACT's retail spending was up 13.6 per cent on the decade average, putting it third in the nation, and its jobless rate down 3.5 per cent on the decade average, placing it second. Employment was up 3.9 per cent.

The ACT recorded the fourth-best result for construction work (up 18 per cent on the decade average), behind NSW, the Northern Territory and Victoria.

Although annual population growth was down 4.2 per cent on the decade average, the ACT ranked second for absolute annual population growth, up 1.77 per cent.

The ACT's dwelling construction starts were up 16.5 per cent on decade averages, placing it third behind NSW and Victoria respectively.

And the ACT led the nation for housing finance, measured in the trend number of home loans, up 28 per cent on the long-term average.

Using December quarter data, the report found ACT wages were up 1.9 per cent and CPI 2.2 per cent. March data had house prices up 2.9 per cent.

The CommSec report followed the release of Deloitte Access Economics' business outlook last week, which found the ACT had the fastest growing economy in the country.

The territory had sprinted to the "top of the leaderboard" in 2017, Deloitte Access Economics said, with gross state product rising by 4.6 per cent.

Low interest rates had given the ACT's "massive mortgage belt" some breathing space, according to Deloitte partner Chris Richardson.