Amidst the ongoing discussion in the mortgage broking space regarding diversifying into equipment financing, a nationwide survey has detailed the fluctuations in equipment spending across Australia evidenced in the past year.
The latest State of the States report from CommSec compared equipment investment year on year with the December quarter previous to reveal that spending increased in six of the states.
South Australia showed the most growth, with equipment spending up 24.1% from the year before, near a seven-year high.
Queensland followed in second with an 11.3% increase, near a four-year high.
However, new equipment spending in the Northern Territory was down 21.3% on a year ago, while investment in the ACT was also down 3.4%.
The survey also examined the regions by comparing the equipment investment in the past December quarter to decade averages, what the report deemed the “normal performance.”
With this measurement, equipment investment in Tasmania was up the most compared with decade averages, showing a 27.8% increase.
Meanwhile, equipment investment in New South Wales increased 10.9%, while South Australia saw gains of 9.4%, Victoria 5.2%, ACT 2.7% and Queensland 0.3%.
The Northern Territory was down a significant 35.8%, “reflecting the completion of the investment stage for a number of gas projects”, while Western Australia was down 9.8%.
