 Melbourne is renowned for its European café society, multicultural communities, food and wine scene, trendy shopping strips, unique arts culture, festivals and music. Home to many famous events and festivities including The Australian Open Tennis Tournament, the Australian Grand Prix (Formula 1 and Motorcycle), numerous codes of football such as AFL, Rugby and Soccer and the Spring Racing Carnival. Tourism plays a vital role in Melbourne's economy. It is home to Australia's busiest seaport and much of Australia's automotive manufacturing industry. Melbourne is also a major technology hub, with an IT industry employing some 60,000 people. This equates to approximately one third of the entire Australian IT industry and realises a turnover of $19.8 billion and export revenues of $615 million. Melbourne was evidently built for business. Almost half of the top 100 ASX listed companies are headquartered in Melbourne. Examples include, BHP Billiton, National Australia Bank, ANZ, Amcor and Coles Myer Ltd. The economy is thriving, growing approximately 18 per cent, in the last five years. Growth was particularly strong in the finance sector, strengthening in construction activity, including dwellings and infrastructure development. (www.businessvic.gov.au) The leading growth prospects and stable economy of Melbourne make it an ideal investment location for both owner occupiers and investors alike. The Economy Population is currently at an all time high. Highlighted by the ABS Demographic Statistics March Quarter 2007, Victoria increased by 22, 717 persons over the quarter and 74, 431 persons over the year. Reports identify that the Victorian population reached 5,188,136 persons at the end of the March quarter and Net overseas migration contributed 15,484 persons to Victoria in the March quarter and 42, 897 persons over the year.
Victoria has a strong and stable economy and enjoys a AAA credit rating. In 2007, demographer and KPMG partner Bernard Salt predicted in his growth report that if current trends continue Melbourne will be the most populous city in Australia by 2028. New infrastructure development is a major facilitator of this growth and development. Long term effects of this substantial population growth will place pressure on existing infrastructure and will mean the planning and development of a number of new projects, some of which are already being proposed or are currently under construction. New projects focus on growth areas identified by Government planning strategies and include the Mitcham-Frankston Freeway, The Craigieburn Bypass, The Pakenham Bypass and The Deer Park Bypass. In recent years, Melton, Wyndham and Casey, all part of the Melbourne statistical division, have recorded the highest growth rate of all local government areas in Australia with two out of the three of these areas being based in the Western suburbs of Melbourne. Key Industries The state's key industry strengths of agriculture, food, medical research, financial services, tourism and cultural industries are complemented by Victoria being Australia's leader in nowledge based industries such as information and communication, technology, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing and environmental management. Agriculture Located in the south-east corner of the mainland, Victoria is one of eight Australian states and territories. Although small in size, Victoria's rich soils and temperate climate make it a very productive agricultural area, it generates one quarter of Australia's food exports. The Victorian Agriculture industry is substantial and covers a multitude of commodity groups including the chicken, meat, dairy, egg, flower, grain, livestock and horticulture. Manufacturing With over 17,000 manufacturers in Victoria, trade in manufactured goods provides 60 % of Victoria's total exports. The key focus for the Victorian government is to nurture and develop the manufacturing sector. Part of this strategy is to encourage manufacturers to evaluate new technology options and to demonstrate new technologies to other Victorian manufacturers. Victoria's manufacturing sector is diverse with a healthy research and development component. Victoria is home to, 31% of Australia's total manufacturing capacity, 32% of aerospace management, 35% of all metal fabrication, 41% of all electronics manufacturing, 45% of precision engineering and 46% of scientific equipment manufacturing in Australia.
Victoria is at the centre of the Australian information and communications technology industry (ICT). The ICT industry currently holds revenue of 23.1 billion dollars. ICT Victoria has a reputation for innovation, which is boosted by collaboration with Victoria's world class research institutions and universities. Home to a highly skilled workforce of 83, 900 - Victoria's ICT equate to approximately 34% of Australia's entire ICT workforce. Victoria is home to over half of the Australian electronic games industry, and includes world-class development studios and the national headquarters of the Game Developers Association of Australia. Web application software is one of the industries strengths, and encompasses the development of software built on specialist requirements to service industry specific sectors such as financial services, healthcare, transport distribution and logistics, eSecurity and tailored eLearning solutions. Major Developments Report The Victorian Government is continuing its record investment in new and upgraded infrastructure to drive economic growth. Net infrastructure investment is expected to average $3.3 billion a year over the four years to 2010-11. This displays a record level of expenditure and reflects a real capital growth of 7.9%, significantly more than the 4.8% projected population growth over the same period. The Victorian Governments ongoing investment in high quality infrastructure includes:
The Victorian housing market is booming with prices, sales volumes and clearance rates all up significantly on previous years. House sales have outperformed all other capitals and Melbourne's median house price increased by an incredible 17.8% in 2006 (ABS). This boom has been underpinned by tightening fundamentals with new home building falling well short of housing demand. 2007 showed that residential property in Melbourne experienced its highest level of growth since 2002. REIV CEO Enzo Raimondo said "It is no surprise that residential property has experienced its highest level of growth since 2002 and has exceeded the expectations of many agents vendors and buyers. This is reflected in the increase in prices of homes sold. In 2002 the Melbourne median house price increased by 13.5%, the following four years growth was substantially lower and averaged only 3.5% per year. Over the 12 months to September 2007 Melbourne's median house price has again increased to 13%." The residential vacancy rates released by the REIV were consistently low in 2007. At the lowest they were 1.2% and at the highest they were 1.6%. January 2008 saw the REIV state that "Investment in new dwellings in Melbourne has not kept up with demand and unless we build more accommodation where people want to live this shortage will persist." In addition to this Michael Matusik, Director of Matusik Property Insights has projected a rental growth of approx 50% between 2007 and 2010. Company Contacts
|
Melbourne
The current population of Melbourne is 3.68 million, making it the second largest of Australia's capital cities behind Sydney. Victoria's population growth has been strong over the past few years supported primarily by overseas migration. Last year saw Melbourne's biggest growth surge Melbourne has seen since the 1960's.
Information and Communication Technology
Residential Property
Start here to begin your search
|
1
|
