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Australia is falling behind developing nations on returns to its economy and performance of built assets, according to the 2016 Global Built Asset Performance Index released by Arcadis.
The index, developed in conjunction with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), examined the income generated by buildings and infrastructure – homes, schools, roads, airports, power plants, malls, railways, ports and all other fixed assets – across 36 countries that collectively represent 78 percent of global GDP.
Australia is ranked 21st on total returns from built assets and is below the global average on performance, behind emerging nations such as the Philippines and Thailand. In per-capita terms, Australia is ranked sixth overall.
According to the Index, Australia will fall to 23rd by 2026 on total returns.
“In resource and manufacturing focused areas of Australia, the emphasis will be on driving operational efficiency from existing assets, and effectively dealing with the legacy environmental issues created by those industries,” says Gareth Robbins, director at Arcadis Australia Pacific.“Meanwhile in the cities, the focus will be on creating sustainable and livable urban centres, through the provision of high-quality transportation and housing assets, in order to create environments that can attract the jobs and people required to support economic growth,” Robbins said.
“Meanwhile in the cities, the focus will be on creating sustainable and livable urban centres, through the provision of high-quality transportation and housing assets, in order to create environments that can attract the jobs and people required to support economic growth.”
“New South Wales and Victoria have a very strong pipeline of infrastructure projects planned for the next decade to address rapidly growing cities, however, more will need to be done to unlock the value and potential of built assets left over from the slowdown in mining, and replace the decline in manufacturing.”
The report reveals China’s economic growth is highly powered from its built assets – accounting for 52.9% of GDP returns this year – and is expected to peak as its economy gradually rebalances towards services and consumption, as opposed to manufacturing and investment.
“By 2026, emerging markets will increase their dominance for high performing and sustainable built assets – India will overtake the US, Indonesia will leapfrog Mexico and Japan, and Brazil will edge ahead of Germany,” Robbins says.
“Mature economies will have to do more with less as ageing built assets cause depreciation to run faster than rebuilding in recent years.”
The top 10 countries by overall built asset income (US$) Country GDP from built assets – 2014 – 2016:
1. China 9.3tn – 10.4tn
2. US 5.2tn – 5.4tn
3. India 3.1tn – 3.6tn
4. Japan 1.9tn – 1.9tn
5. Mexico 1.2tn – 1.4tn
6. Indonesia 1.0tn – 1.2tn
7. Germany 978bn – 1tn
8. Brazil 923bn – 966bn
9. Turkey 784bn – 807bn
10. France 760bn – 794bn
The full findings of the index are available here.
