A robust housing market and fast population growth have made Canberra one of the nation's top performers in a new economic snapshot.
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The latest report from analysts CommSec, released on Monday, ranks the ACT's economy third among states and territories after a quarter of strong retail spending and buoyant home lending.
House prices were up 3.1 per cent, a rare bright spot among capital cities, while the ACT far outperformed the nation on home building.
CommSec chief economist Craig James said its latest State of the States report showed population growth had created housing demand while stimulating construction in Canberra.
The ACT had the second-largest annual population growth, at 1.93 per cent, and its increase was above its decade average.
New dwelling starts were 67 per cent above the ACT's 10-year average. The next best performer on that measure, NSW, was up 31 per cent on its long-term levels.
"There's lots of businesses and professions that have the opportunity to take advantage of that strength," Mr James said.
The ACT had unemployment below its long-term average, and along with Tasmania, was the only state or territory with significant housing price growth.
As NSW and Victoria faced softening results with falling house prices, the territory could find itself the premier performer along with Tasmania in coming snapshots, Mr James said.
The federal election was muting business investment, a point of weakness in the ACT economy, as investors waited to see the result and how it would affect the Commonwealth public service, he said.
The finish of the poll would be a "major positive" for the territory's economic outlook.
Certainty about the election result would give businesses greater ability to plan ahead, Mr James said.
Low unemployment was also driving strong retail spending, up on the territory's decade average by 14.3 per cent, a result behind only Victoria and NSW.
"It's creating the demand for retail spending, creating good growth across the ACT economy," Mr James said.
Canberra's housing market was more balanced than in NSW, where prices had fallen 9.5 per cent in March, and in Victoria, down 8.4 per cent, he said.
Prices were flattening out in Australia's two largest cities and population growth was still creating underlying demand for homes.
The ACT's economic growth was more than 20 per cent higher than its decade average.
While the territory's housing prices continued growing, it was outpaced by Tasmania, where prices rose 6.5 per cent.