Much of this improvement can be attributed to the very low level of interest rates. 7 The effect of this is perhaps most evident in the strength of housing market conditions, which are supporting strong growth of dwelling investment. 6  This requires an estimate of imports used in mining investment.
This is a rather imprecise exercise and so the estimates for non-mining activity should be considered as rough. 7  The low growth of non-mining activity seen over the second half of the 2000s was not a sign of weakness in the economy overall, at least prior to the global financial crisis.