New South Wales economy continues to lead Australia: CommSec

New South Wales has maintained its spot as Australia's top-performing state economy, while the Northern Territory is growing faster than anywhere else, according to CommSec's latest snapshot of the Australian economy.

Key points:

• NSW economy led by housing construction and business spending

• NT economy boosted by gas project, low unemployment

• WA continues to lag other states as mining investment boom falls

The quarterly State of the States report uses eight key economic indicators to compare each state against its own average performance over the past decade.

CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian said the states and territories can be grouped into three, thanks to Western Australia dropping back to become the worst performing economy.

"You've got NSW, Victoria and the ACT certainly leading the charge and in the front," he observed.

"Then you've got not much separating South Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and Tasmania, and then Western Australia seems to lag behind."

Mr Sebastian said New South Wales had been helped by the construction boom over the last quarter, with top rankings for business investment, retail trade and dwelling starts.

"It's pretty clear that New South Wales held firmly onto the top spot as the best performing economy," Mr Sebastian concluded.

Housing starts in New South Wales were a staggering 76 per cent above decade averages for the June quarter, while starts were also 13.3 per cent higher than a year ago for the June quarter.

Business spending in the state was 17.6 per cent above the average for the decade.