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The Conus Trend series for Cairns SA4 building approvals fell to 96 in May, down 21.6% year-on-year and the lowest monthly reading since November 2024. Last month’s April read has also been revised, down to 101 from the 104 first reported. As flagged previously, the series is still working through …read more
The latest ABS Monthly Household Spending Indicator (May 2026) confirms a milestone worth pausing on. Discretionary spending growth crossed above non-discretionary in March, the first time that has happened in this cost-of-living cycle, and the gap has widened in each month since. By May, Trend discretionary spending was up 5.2% …read more
Cairns Regional Council adopted its 2026/27 budget on 17 June, and for the median residential ratepayer the headline is a total bill increase of around 7.5%, or roughly $283 a year. General property rates themselves rise a more modest 3.95%; the gap between the two is water, waste, and the …read more
The raw figures for May looked soft. Total passenger movements through Cairns Airport came in at 376,582, down 2.8 per cent on May last year. But the headline does the underlying trend a disservice. Our seasonally adjusted and Trend work tells a more encouraging story: the Conus Trend for total …read more
In this blog we decompose population growth in the Cairns Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4) into its three drivers (natural increase, net internal migration and net overseas migration) over the eight years to 2024-25. The aim is to establish how the region’s growth is actually generated, and how that composition …read more
The Crisafulli Government released the tender for the head contractor of the Cairns Hospital Expansion on 11 June, advancing a $1 billion-plus program expected to generate around 3,800 construction jobs for Cairns and Far North Queensland. Funded through the fully-funded Hospital Rescue Plan, the project is described by the government …read more
The Conus Trend series for April comes in at 104, down 11.4% year-on-year and the lowest reading since January 2025. That number is not the story this month. The Trend is still absorbing the 468 Woree unit approvals from July 2025, and the unadjusted series is being dragged lower by …read more
Buried in the Statement on Monetary Policy released last week is an ‘In Depth’ chapter on the impact of higher global energy prices on the Australian economy. It is worth reading on its own merits, but it is worth reading with one specific question in mind: what does this mean …read more
The RBA Monetary Policy Board lifted the cash rate by 25bps to 4.35% on Tuesday, the third consecutive hike of 2026 and the third consecutive line-ball call delivered with the same answer. The vote, however, was anything but line-ball this time: 8-1 in favour of the hike, with one member …read more
The latest ABS Labour Force release for March, combined with our Conus/CBC Staff Selection Trend series, shows the Cairns labour market has continued the recovery that started late last year. Trend employment in Cairns rose to 145,730 people in March, up 1,980 (+1.4%) over the year, and the Trend unemployment …read more
We are proud to have CBC Staff Selection as supporters of the Conus/CBC Staff Selection Trend Employment and Jobseeker data series