New Daily Flights Between Cairns and Melbourne

Budget airline Tiger Airways will soon operate daily late-night/early-morning services between Melbourne and Cairns from $98 one way.

Proposed to commence in mid-September 2010, the airline has the capacity to bring more than 2,500 people to Cairns weekly.

Tiger Airways Australia commercial director Steve Burns said the decision was based on demand.

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Local Tradesman Shortage Expected to Slow Growth

Cairns is unlikely to experience a residential construction boom, as occurred before the global financial crisis, due to lack in skilled local tradesmen.

The Urban Development Institute of Australia's president Adam Gowlett, who was re-elected for another 12-month term last Wednesday, said "ideally a home building resurgence would be gradual rather than fast."

Mr Gowlett said the outlook for residential construction for the remainder of 2010 was still quiet, despite promising signs in other areas of the economy.

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Claims of Australia's 'Housing Bubble' Rejected

RP Data's national research director Tim Lawless has rejected claims that the nation is experiencing a 'bubble' in property values.

“Across Australia’s capital cities, home values have increased by just 6.2 percent per annum over the last five years – a rate of growth that is in line with wages growth which has been 6.0 per cent per annum over the same time frame," Mr Lawless said.

“Rather than experience a rapid decline, my view is that home values will continue to show modest growth due to the ongoing under supply of dwellings and rapid population growth that creates demand for housing.”

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