The latest quarterly State of the States report, released by CommSec, showed the ACT retained its position as the second-best performing economy, ranked only behind Tasmania.

It's the third quarter in a row the ACT has held on to second position, its highest ranking since April 2017.

CommSec chief economist Craig James said the territory's high ranking was likely to remain that way for some time, due to the economic conditions in the wake of COVID-19.

"Tasmania and the ACT have firmly held their position at the top of the performance rankings due to above-average population growth in Tasmania, and a strong job market in the ACT," Mr James said.

"As a result it's unlikely we'll see any considerable change at the top of the rankings in the near future."

Spearheading the ACT's results was Canberra's job market in the December quarter, with one of the lowest rates of unemployment at 3.4 per cent, which was almost 15 per cent below the decade average.

Canberra was also the strongest jurisdiction in retail spending, which contributed to the high rankings.

"Across the country, retail spending is strong, in response to success in suppressing the virus and strong stimulus measures," the report said.

"Retail spending in the ACT was 19.4 per cent above decade-average levels in the December quarter, ahead of Tasmania, previously in the top spot, and Queensland."

The report found the ACT was also leading the country in terms of relative economic growth, which was 22.1 per cent ahead of the territory's decade-average output.

"The ACT recorded the fastest nominal economic growth, up 5.2 per cent over the year to December, supported by a firm job market," the report said.

However, it wasn't all a positive picture for the national capital, being ranked second last on the value of new home loans that were being taken out.

While the value of home loans were up by 62.5 per cent, it was well behind other states such as the national leader Victoria, which had increased by 87 per cent during the past decade.

There had been $455 million in new home loans that were taken out in the ACT during the past reporting period.

The ACT also had the slowest level of annual growth in the country for home loan values, which had grown by 30 per cent in the past year.

In the past quarter, there were more than 1200 new dwellings that had started construction, according to the report.

READ MORE:

The ACT was also ranked first in the nation for new vehicle registrations, and was down just 0.1 per cent on the decade average.

While Tasmania and the ACT led the pack in overall economic measures, Western Australia came in third, having risen from sixth position due to its unemployment rate.

Victoria then fell to fourth position in the latest report, which was then followed by South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and then the Northern Territory.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: