New South Wales expected to make strong economic recovery

Australia's New South Wales is the state with the best chance of a strong economic recovery in 2013, according to CommSec's State of the States report released on Monday.

In the quarterly state and territory economic performance report, the Commonwealth Bank's broking subsidiary CommSec said Western Australia (WA) remained the nation's best performing economy, ahead of the Northern Territory, leading the way on retail trade, population growth and equipment investment.

The report analyses eight key indicators including economic growth, retail spending, equipment investment, unemployment, completed construction work, population growth, housing finance and dwelling commencements.

It finds WA is the second strongest on economic growth, construction work done and housing finance.

The report says New South Wales is the second strongest on unemployment, and the third strongest on population growth.

CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian says the results suggest the State of New South has the best chance of making a strong economic come-back this year.

"They've got a strong job market and they're actually starting to see a resurgence on the housing front as well, and that's going to be really, really positive in terms of a huge multiplier for growth across the New South Wales economy," Sebastian said.