Civmec / Ausgroup

Civmec / Ausgroup: Australia’s resources boom is boosting demand for office space. Office vacancies in central business districts fell to 7.3% as of July 1, from 8.3% a year earlier, with three quarters of the demand from Perth and Brisbane, according to the Property Council of Australia. In particular, the vacancy rate in central Perth fell to 4.2% as of July 1, compared with 7.8% a year earlier, even as 158k sm of space was added in 2012, the highest on record. Australia hasn’t suffered a recession since 1991 and the nation’s mining boom, driven largely by Chinese and Indian demand for iron ore, coal and liquefied natural gas from Western Australia and Queensland states, is expected to last decades. Western Australia’s unemployment rate fell to 3.5% in June from 3.8% the previous month, the lowest in the country, while Queensland dropped to 5.3% from 5.7%. Tightness in office space in Perth, the gateway to Western Australia, indicates the buoyant activity going on in the area. This bodes well for offshore service providers like Civmec and Ausgroup. Civmec is +0.8% at $1.205, earlier marking yet another record high at $1.22. Augroup is flat at $0.35.