Canberra is expecting a jobs boom in the next five years but a lack of affordable housing threatens to handbrake the local economy, an expert says.
The city is expected to add 35,000 jobs in the next five years and see a population boom of young families and professionals, a new report by KPMG says.
However, a downtick in the supply of new houses threatens to prevent population and economic growth, KPMG's Planning and Infrastructure Economics director Terry Rawnsley said.
"The rental market is very tight in Canberra," he said.
"The housing market is going to remain quite tight in Canberra for the next 12 or 18 months.
"Without that housing supply to provide the bed for the workers that the economy wants to create, it can be a handbrake on economic activity."
Beyond the public service
While most of Canberra's jobs boom will be in the public service, industries like food and accommodation, education, wholesale trade and professional services are also projected to grow.
Canberra is one of 12 Australian areas KPMG has dubbed an "enterprising city".
Alongside Adelaide, Cairns, Darwin, the Gold Coast, Hobart, Newcastle, Perth, Western Sydney, Wollongong, Geelong and Townsville, the capital is expected to boom.
The ACT government is aiming to have 300,000 local jobs by 2030.
Diversified economy
Sectors expected to be a growing part of Canberra's economy include defence, national security, space, cyber renewables, advanced technology and education, KPMG ACT branch chairman Andrew Spong said.
While the public service employs 80,000 Canberrans, there are nearly half as many people working in professional services - like scientists, lawyers and accountants.
"That broad and diversified economic mix is highly attractive to our younger career professionals, including those that are graduating from university," Mr Spong said.
Having more employers beyond the public service will help insulate the city from federal government spending whims, Mr Rawnsley said.
"If there is a tight federal budget, it doesn't sort of flow through excessively to the rest of the economy," he said.
"If you look at Canberra's activity, when there's been historically big cutbacks in the public sector... tightness in the Commonwealth spending does impact."
The KPMG report said the ACT's strengths include a high employment growth, has a low unemployment rate and a highly educated workforce.
'Easy and fun place to visit'
Tourism is a growing part of the capital's economy, Mr Spong said.
"[In] 2023 we saw record tourist numbers to Canberra, which I think is a reflection of the very unique and popular cultural institutions that we have here," he said.
Last year, 5.8 million visitors spent $3.8 billion in the capital.
They collectively spent 135 per cent more than in 2019.
Dash Rumble was starting to see more tourists visit her restaurants, the city's Such and Such and Pilot, in Ainslie.
"There are people coming to Canberra specifically to dine out here. People now are travelling to the city to come out and go to restaurants," Ms Rumble said.
"People are starting [to] realise that it's a pretty easy and fun place to visit."
Canberra has likely benefited from more Australians, especially from Sydney and Melbourne, travelling for a long weekend to get "out of the big smoke", Mr Rawnsley said.
Among the population groups growing in Canberra, 30- to 39-year-olds see the biggest growth, followed by those aged 20 to 29.
There is also growth among under-19s, suggesting an uptick in families.
Mr Rawnsley said they tended to add long-term benefits to the economy because they are more likely to stay.
