The only comprehensive analysis of economic and business conditions for the Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) area, the Toowoomba Regional Council Economic Brief, has been released.

The 2009 Economic Brief was released at the third meeting of the Toowoomba Regional Economic Development Board at City Hall. Strategic Services portfolio leader Cr Noel Strohfeld said the annual Economic Brief was a valuable document that allowed council and other organisations to make decisions based on up-to-date and accurate information.

“This year’s Brief shows our region is outperforming most of the State in several key economic indicators.

“One of the highlights from this Brief has been an increase in Gross Regional Product (GRP) in 2007/2008 of 9.3% which is higher than the average growth for Queensland of 8.9%. Our GRP of $6.6 billion contributed 3.1% to the gross state product of Queensland ($216.2 billion) in that time.”

Caption: Members of the Economic Development Board, from left, Cr Noel Strohfeld, USQ Chancellor Bobbie Brazil, Mayor Peter Taylor, Chamber of Commerce president Shane Charles and Board chair Bob McCarthy, check out the 2009 TRC Economic Brief released yesterday.

Cr Strohfeld said it was also pleasing to see an increase in total industry productivity of 6.6% in 2007/2008 exceeding the State average of 4.8%.

“We also recorded an unemployment rate of 2.3% which is significantly lower than the averages for both Queensland of 3.7% and Australia with 4.2%.”

Annual growth in the estimated number of people employed in the TRC area was 2,881 persons or 3.7% over the year to the December quarter 2008.

“The value of non-residential building approvals in the TRC area increased by 31.5% to $153.6 million in the year to the June Quarter 2009,” Cr Strohfeld said.

Other key highlights from the 2009 issue include:

• Resident population of 155,124 persons in 2008, making TRC the eighth largest of the 74 Queensland councils;
• Projected increase of 73,337 persons by 2031, representing average annual growth of 1.7%, similar to the growth rate for Queensland;
• An increase of 36,897 households between 2006 and 2031, representing an average annual increase of 2% over this period;
• There were 13,155 business entities registered in the TRC area in June 2007. The estimated total turnover of all industry in the TRC area was $9.5 billion in 2006/07, with the largest contributions made by the construction ($1.6 billion), property and business services ($1.5 billion) and retail trade ($1.5 billion) sectors;
• An annual increase of 5.0% in the median house price for the TRC area to a level of $272,000 in the March Quarter 2009; and
• The average gross rental yield for separate houses in Toowoomba was 4.8% in the March quarter 2009, higher than the average for Brisbane (4.1%).

Copies of the 2009 Economic Brief will be available from council’s customer service areas or as downloadable files from the TRC website.