What you need to look at is which housing markets are flourishing. Namely Sydney and Melbourne. Unemployment is incredibly low, economic activity is high and generally things are good in Australia's two biggest cities. The mining states are having a touch time but blind freddy could have told you that property markets that are built on mining booms will inevitably come back to reality post boom. All through the mining boom we kept hearing about a two speed economy. Well we have the same thing now in reverse, and to be honest as long as the mining states are, well, mining states then we will always have a two speed economy. Mining is cyclical and will always have ups and downs.
I am not a fan of permanent subsidies from governments to business. If it is short term assistance that will allow them to see through a tough time then that is fine but if it is to prop up a business that is not profitable like the car manufacturing industry then it is counter productive. Basically the government is paying the wages of staff so the company can make money. The country would be better off employing them directly...
