What can a Minister for Cities really offer? QWest Paterson Chairman Warwick Hemsley offers his perspective on the appointment of a Minister for Cities and the Built Environment as well as some historical context surrounding the involvement of the Federal government in our urban centres… Prime Minister Turnbull’s appointment of a new position in the federal Cabinet that will focus on Australia’s urban centres was met with general positivity last month. The Urban Development Institute and the Property Council both…

Property Market Update – August 2015 Our Chairman Warwick Hemsley recently presented at an investment seminar hosted by The West Australian where he outlined some sobering statistics impacting on the property market in WA. While the picture he painted of the current economic climate is pretty grim, he did offer some light at the end of the tunnel, with the bottom of the market cycle potentially in sight. There are also still opportunities out there for those with the capital…

UPGRADERS THE KEY TO SLOWING PERTH OFFICE MARKET As the mining downturn continues to take its toll on the Perth economy, the office market is no exception. The Perth CBD is in the unenviable position of having the highest office space vacancy rate in Australia and as more new stock comes on stream by the end of 2015 things are unlikely to get any better in the near future. According to Jones Lang LaSalle, the vacancy rate during the first…

What does Aldi’s presence mean for WA’s retail market? The latest purchase of commercial property by German discount supermarket chain Aldi in Nedlands provides a timely opportunity to look at investment in Western Australia’s retail sector and the continued growth of international brand names seeking retail space in Perth. In the midst of WA’s economic downturn, where the residential and commercial property sectors have stagnated, international companies continue to increase their presence in Perth’s retail space. The likes of Top…

Is Perth catering for an ageing population? The world’s population is ageing and Australia is no exception. It is estimated that Perth will be home to over 1 million people aged over 65 by 2050. According to a Committee for Perth report, the number of people aged over 80 in Perth has increased 127% in the past 20 years. The biggest proportion of over 65s, according to the Committee for Perth study in 2014, are in areas such as the…

The cost of being bushfire prepared Across Australia major bush fire events have caused extensive damage to rural and regional areas and in recent years more urbanised areas have come under threat. In Western Australia, the threat of bush fires in semi-rural and fringe area developments has come under particular scrutiny since February 2011 when 71 homes were destroyed in the Roleystone-Kelmscott area of the Perth Hills. As a result of the devastation that the bushfire caused, the state government…

PERTH RESIDENTIAL MARKET WEAKENS As figures for the final quarter in 2014 start to emerge from a range for sources, the state of Western Australia’s residential property market is under the microscope. The impact of the economic downturn is now in black and white as we see residential house price growth stagnate, housing sales decrease and housing finance commitments trend downward. REIWA have released their December 2014 figures which reflect a 1.8% decrease in the median house price to $540,000…

PERTH PROPERTY UPDATE – DECEMBER 2014 The Perth property market has stagnated in the second half of 2014 as economists warn that we are heading for a rough ride in 2015. Recent figures show that Australia’s economic growth rate has fallen to 0.3% and with declining oil, gas and gold prices over the year both state and federal government revenue is taking a hit. The federal government’s mid-term budget figures have put the average price of iron ore at $US60/T…

THE POTENTIAL FOR A FREMANTLE REBIRTH The City of Fremantle is entering a period of transformation as the state government’s proposed local council amalgamations will likely see the port city’s population double to 64,000. The City of Fremantle will encompass East Fremantle, parts of Melville and Cockburn as well as Rottnest Island once the amalgamations take effect in July 2015. These changes are occurring as Fremantle begins to emerge from a period of stagnation in terms of growth and development.…

What do low interest rates really mean for the WA housing market? With the latest RBA announcement setting a record breaking 13 month period of unchanged rates -the Australian economy is likely to experience interest rates at 2.5% until at least mid-2015. This is good news if you are thinking about buying a property…Right? The answer to that question is more complicated than just ‘yes or no’ as we investigate the real impact of low interest rates on the housing…