Russell Quinn - February 15, 2011
PLANS for the long awaited Perth Waterfront redevelopment have been released by the State Government, with a $440 million price tag which is due for completion by mid-2014.
Premier Colin Barnett said after dozens of proposed plans to redevelop the foreshore, which he described as the best real estate in Perth, and more than 30 years of debate the city was set for a dramatic transformation.
Mr Barnett said Cabinet had approved $270 million funding for the Perth Waterfront Project in the 2011-12 State Budget.
"The total cost of constructing the Waterfront is around $440 million,"' he said. "After we allow for sales of land, the actual cost to the taxpayer is $270 million, that's what has been budgeted for.
"And I'm optimistic, this will be the best land in Perth and depending on the state of the property market, my own feeling is we'll actually do very well out of that (sale of the land)."'
He said contractors will be finalised and tenders will be awarded over the coming months, and at the conclusion of the CHOGM meeting, at the end of October, preliminary site preparation will take place before major construction gets underway in early 2012.
Lord Mayor Lisa Sacffidi highlighted the capacity building and rebranding aspects for Perth as a result of the redevelopment amid calling for patience from the community due to foreseen traffic problems and general disruption in the CBD during construction.
"This is truly a significant project for our city, I think along with the City Link (project) this is the most significant thing that's happened in our capital city ever,"' she said.
"There will be a lot of disruption in the early stages and I really appeal to the people of Perth to understand that it's a case of no pain, no gain."
Ms Scaffidi also acknowledged that cost blowouts were generally accepted as part of major modern-day construction projects.
But the Premier was a little more confident about capping the cost of the project.
"A lot of work has been done," he said. "Over the last 12 months there has been detailed work, concept work, there's been testing of both the riverbed and on site, a lot of drilling.
"It's been done quickly but I am confident, and the people on the design and engineering side are confident, that we have a good handle on this so this is the best projected cost of it.
"I think the upside might be there on property sales as the project comes to fruition given the growth in the city and the demand for more residential and community space."
Planning Minister John Day provided details of the redevelopment. "There will be extensive commercial and tourism aspects to the development," Mr Day said.
"We estimate about 1700 residential apartments, 100,000 square metres of commercial floor space and about 39,000sqm of retail space and extensive tourism facilities.
"Main public works are expected to be completed in third quarter of 2014.
"The 'Waterfront Promenade' is the main feature of the project. It covers 1.5 hectares and links up with 'The Island'.
"'The Island' is designed to be a relaxed place for children and adults and is connected to the 'Waterfront Promenade' by a sculptural pedestrian and cycle bridge.
"Station Park is the gateway to the new waterfront. The park will be filled with trees and native plants and includes a water feature.
"Cafes, bars and restaurants will open out to the waterfront from surrounding buildings.
"People will have access to the water from The Landing on the northern edge of the inlet or the 'The Jetty' with short term mooring."
Of particular importance to the Premier was the inclusion of an Indigenous Cultural Centre which he said was "intended to be a striking piece of architecture and an indigenous centre of national significance", although it's construction is not guaranteed at this stage.
"If this government is elected for a second term then the indigenous centre will be a second term project to be added to this initial infrastructure to be built," he said. "It's not part of this original development."
The same goes for a mooted cable car that could take tourists and locals from the foreshore up to Kings Park.
The Premier said a decision will be made on the cable car during the 30 month construction stage. "It's been talked about the last few months," Mr Barnett said. "The cost of which is about $30 million … and it would add a great tourist attraction. "But the cable car, as part of the design, is not part of the initial infrastructure."
Andrew Wilson - February 21, 2011
Melbourne home owners have enjoyed a boom in price growth over the past 18 months, with the Australian Property Monitors median house price rising by 33 per cent between March 2009 and December 2010.
Melbourne's median house price of $574,850 is now only about $62,000 short of Sydney's $637,258 - still Australia's most expensive capital city.
Melbourne's top 10 most expensive suburbs include the usual suspects in the south and east of the city.
Toorak and Kooyong, which recorded median house prices of $2,180,000 and $2,151,000 in December, are the only two suburbs to have so far crashed through the $2 million barrier.
By comparison, Sydney has 14 suburbs with a median house price greater than $2 million, with Vaucluse at $3,700,000 and Belleview Hill at $3,345,000 clearly leading the pack.
Sydney also has 127 suburbs with a median house price in excess of $1 million compared to Melbourne's 38.
Melbourne's other most expensive suburbs are St Kilda West $1,700,000, Canterbury $1,650,000, Brighton $1,560,000, Middle Park $1,500,000, Malvern $1,477,500, Balwyn $1,400,000, Ivanhoe East $1,385,000, Armadale $1,380,000, Kew $1,372,500 and Caulfield North $1,350,000.
Melbourne's 10th most expensive suburb, Caulfield North, lags behind Sydney's No. 10, Kirribilli, which has a price of $2,200,000.
At the other end of the scale, Melbourne's 10 most affordable suburbs are led by Melton and Melton South, each with a median of $250,000 in December.
Other affordable suburbs include Frankston North $281,000, St Albans Park $283,000, Melton West $285,000, Werribee $300,000, Wyndham Vale $303,950, Cranbourne West $305,500, Clifton Springs $312,000, Brookfield $314,900, Cranbourne $317,500 and Coolaroo $317,000.
Melbourne's 10 most popular suburbs in terms of the number of house sales recorded during 2010 were Berwick (864), Pakenham (799) and Frankston (790). Other popular suburbs in terms of sales include Point Cook (750), Werribee (661), Hoppers Crossing (599), Reservoir (591), Craigieburn (518) and St Albans (482).
Dr Andrew Wilson is the senior economist for Australian Property Monitors.
Treasurer and Minister for State Development and Trade, Andrew Fraser - February 28, 2011
All four lanes on the new Airport Flyover are open to traffic as of first thing this morning slashing up to 10 minutes off city-airport journeys. The major milestone marks the end of major works as part of the Bligh Government's $327 million Airport Roundabout Upgrade project.
Treasurer and Minister for State Development and Trade Andrew Fraser said drivers were on the road well ahead of schedule.
"The Airport bound lanes were opened a year ahead of schedule and this morning the westbound lanes took their first cars nine months early," Mr Fraser said.
"This is a massive infrastructure project both in terms of sheer size and for its logistical issues. It is a testament to those involved that it is open so early. Every year 17 million vehicles use this intersection. What used to be one of Brisbane's worst traffic bottlenecks has been ripped up, demolished and replaced by the new flyover and fast diamond intersection, which I'm pleased to say is now officially open.
"Free for all motorists, this flyover with two lanes east and two lanes west is slashing travel times to and from the Airport by up to 10 minutes. From today, up to 3,600 vehicles will be able to cross the overpass every hour.
"With record breaking rainfall over the last couple of months, construction contractor Thiess John Holland, has defied the odds by finishing this project nine months ahead of time."
Thiess John Holland Project Director Gordon Ralph congratulated the team of up to 400 workers who had contributed to the Airport Roundabout Upgrade project since construction began in April 2009.
CEO of BrisConnections Dr Ray Wilson said when the Airport Link project is completed in 2012, access to the Brisbane Airport for motorists would be better than any other airport in Australia. Next month the 20m-high flyover will be handed to the Department of Transport and Main Roads to manage and will be free for all drivers.
The project, which is being designed and constructed by Thiess John Holland, along with the Airport Link and Northern Busway (Windsor to Kedron), is part of a massive $4.8 billion infrastructure investment on Brisbane's Northside.
The combined Airport Link projects are the biggest infrastructure construction underway in Australia.
The Airport Link and Northern Busway (Windsor to Kedron) are on schedule for completion by mid-2012, with the Airport Roundabout Upgrade set to open this month.
February 21, 2011
Landlords in Adelaide may like the stability of long-term tenants, but Position Financial Services board member Ian Lloyd says landlords should consider increasing their rents or keeping leases shorter at just six months, instead of 12.
This is because the rental market in South Australia's capital is "in a frenzy" and a severe shortage of land release, along with an increasing population, is pushing rent prices up.
"You don't have to keep a tenant for 12 months," he says. "Turn your rents into periodic leases so you can address your rental income on a more regular basis."
Lloyd believes Adelaide is fast becoming just as bad as Sydney when it comes to finding a rental property.
He says three and four-bedroom homes, in particular, are in high demand, because there are generally less to choose from. This is especially the case in the northeast of the city.
"We've had record population growth but substandard numbers of housing developments.
Demand has gone up but housing has gone down, so there's now a frenzy on the rental market where people can't get in easy," he says.
Lloyd says just last week, a home in the suburb of Modbury was listed for $430 a week.
The first seven people who inspected the home wanted to rent it out, offering up to $450 per week. One tenant even offered to service the pool.
"This sure is good for the investor," he says.
"People can't service as much debt because the banks are increasing their requirements, and banks won't refinance either.
Banks have tightened up, even in the investor market, so it means it's a terrific time because more people will keep renting."
Lloyd also believes Adelaide is likely to see a significant boom, similar to what Sydney and Melbourne experienced, because both council and the State Government are taking too long to approve developments, so a housing shortage will continue to push prices up.
Josephine Tovey - February 24, 2011
Sydney's urban sprawl should be halted by the end of the next term of parliament, with all new homes built within existing suburbs, the NSW Greens say.
Ending urban sprawl and encouraging more affordable housing are key platforms of the planning policy the party will launch today, which also includes removing the minister for planning's right to determine major projects, and ending corporate donations and private certification of new developments.
The party, which could gain the balance of power in the upper house at the March 26 state election, will launch the policy at Barangaroo this morning with the veteran anti-development activist Jack Mundey.
The lead upper house candidate David Shoebridge accused the Coalition of failing to develop a planning policy of its own.
''For the first half of the Coalition's term of office their only promise on planning is to have an inquiry while the new Coalition minister will continue approving disastrous Part 3A developments,'' he said.
The Greens propose repealing Part 3A planning laws, which allow the Minister for Planning to determine developments that are ''state significant'' or valued at more than $100 million.
They want to instead establish an Independent State Planning Commission to deal only with ''genuinely state significant'' projects such as major infrastructure, not shopping malls or apartment blocks.
The Opposition Leader, Barry O'Farrell, has said he wants to see Labor's policy of a 70:30 ratio of urban infill to greenfield housing developments changed to closer to a 50:50 split, thereby moving more new homes to Sydney's fringe.
Mr Shoebridge said the Greens did not support new greenfield development, although some was ''already on the books'' and would need to go ahead during the next parliamentary term. ''We want a clear line to be drawn on Sydney's western fringe,'' he said.
He denied their policy would force unwanted high-rise apartments into low-rise suburbs, an issue that has generated fierce protests throughout Sydney, particularly in Ku-ring-gai.
''What we've seen in Ku-ring-gai is a one-size-fits-all approach imposed on the community … developments which are utterly out of character with the area,'' he said, pointing to Paddington's terraces or the inner-west's semi-detached homes as examples of sensitive, dense development.
The party also wants to let councils mandate levels of affordable housing, properties let at rents at least 20 per cent below market rate, in developments and to end private certification so compliance checks are only done by public officials.
Staff writer - Real Estate Institute of Australia - February 18, 2011
President of the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) has congratulated the Government's re-think of the proposed wind-back of the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS).
Preliminary estimates, following consultation with the Queensland Government, indicated that the Government would need to invest $5.6 billion in rebuilding flood-affected regions.
Spending cuts proposed the winding back of the NRAS scheme from 50,000 homes to 35,000.
"The industry was aware that the Government needed to cut expenditure to assist in the re-building effort so as not to place pressure on interest rates, however REIA made it clear that the choice of programs targeted was questionable - the NRAS is an essential part of the solution to relieving the affordable housing crisis in Australia," said Mr Airey.
"The Government has made an accurate assessment and listened to the advice from industry in making this considered decision regarding the NRAS," he continued.
Australia has a chronic shortage of housing.
Even before the current flood disasters, the Housing Supply Council forecasted the demand-supply gap increasing by more than 50 per cent, from just over 200,000 dwellings in 2010 to over 300,000 by 2014.
"One of the greatest needs following the floods will be affordable housing - the longer-term goals of the NRAS may now have the opportunity to be realised," Mr Airey concluded.
The Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) is the national professional association for the real estate sector in Australia.
Kim MacDonald, The West Australian - February 23, 2011
One of Australia's biggest superannuation funds has invested in WA residential property for the first time in its 15-year history in a sign that confidence is returning to the local housing market.
ISPT Super Property has invested in the $60 million Centro North project in Subiaco, a complex of 90 apartments due for completion in mid 2014.
The group, which is owned by 24 superannuation funds, is also considering a major investment in the 324-home Nickol Estate in Karratha.
Chief executive Daryl Browning said the decision to invest in WA was a bid to diversify from the Melbourne and Sydney markets and to gain greater exposure to the emerging resources boom.
"There are two stand-out States - WA and Queensland," Mr Browning said. "It's coming off the resources booms in those States but it is underpinned by fundamentals such as strong population growth and government investment in infrastructure."
Mr Browning said homes within 20km of Perth city had better growth potential than WA's outer metropolitan suburbs.
WA specialist property investment company Otan said the investment underpinned the positive outlook held by institutional investors.
Managing director Mark Butler said this was in stark contrast to the pessimistic view held by most homeowners about WA housing, following steady falls in median house prices. Mr Butler said the median price had been skewed by a tumble in the top end of the market - homes costing more than $2 million. But homes in the lower and middle range had continued to achieve normal growth.
"While mum and dad buyers are wary of the Perth and WA markets and believe the doom and gloom they are hearing, the reality is very different with institutional investors, who make up 65 per cent of our investor base," Mr Butler said.
"The proof is always in the pudding and our experience shows there is faith in Perth property, regardless of what the man in the street is saying."
Mr Butler said interest from Asian investors in WA real estate was the strongest it has been in 15 years.
Asian interest had more than trebled since June, when the traditional investment hot spot, Melbourne, started to overheat.
Housing Industry Association - Media Release - February 28, 2011
The interest rate hikes of November last year put a dent in housing affordability, says the Housing Industry Association, the voice of Australia's residential building industry.
The HIA-Commonwealth Bank Housing Affordability Index fell by 1.8 per cent in the December 2010 quarter to be down by 10 per cent on the December 2009 quarter.
"Housing affordability suffered a big hit over the course of 2010, with a clear driver being the interest rate increases in March, April, May and November," said HIA's Chief Economist, Dr Harley Dale.
"It is a positive sign for the housing industry that in 2011 the Reserve Bank has clearly signalled a period of interest rate stability.
This situation could add to confidence and, in time, new home building activity," said Harley Dale.
"Federal and state governments could enhance the prospects of a renewed confidence towards new housing. Governments need to up the ante on delivering policy reform on a range of supply side constraints, including the lack of affordable land and the dire shortage of available credit for commercially viable residential projects."
"A downward trend in residential construction over nearly a decade now is obviously tied to a downward trajectory in housing affordability, which is in no small part attributable to supply side obstacles to new housing."
"Regardless of the particular juncture we are at with the interest rate cycle, lack of government action to reduce artificial constraints to new housing supply reduces Australians access to affordable housing," added Harley Dale.
Across Australia's capital cities housing affordability in the December 2010 quarter deteriorated in Sydney (-5.5 per cent), Melbourne (-2.6 per cent), Adelaide (-3.4 per cent), Hobart (-1.4 per cent), and Canberra (-3.5 per cent). Affordability improved modestly in Brisbane (+0.5 per cent) and Perth (+0.1 per cent).
Outside of the capital cities, affordability improved in the non-metropolitan regions of New South Wales (+2.8 per cent), Victoria (+1.3 per cent), Queensland (+1 per cent), and South Australia (+1 per cent), but deteriorated in Western Australia (-2 per cent) and Tasmania (-3.8 per cent).
Michael Matusik - February 23, 2011
Pushed by fears of the inflationary effects of rapidly escalating property prices and the social effects of the decreasing affordability in major Chinese cities, the Chinese government has introduced tough new rules.
Announced on 27 January 2011, strict new property rules now apply to residential property investments in China, which will undoubtedly have a significant impact on Chinese property investors. These include:
Changes to town planning rules will also have an effect, with up to 70% of all land for new housing development being for affordable or social housing.
These new rules are likely to have a significant impact, and in particular, the setting of home selling price targets with heavy financial penalties if values go beyond the targets set.
As a result of these changes, we anticipate that Chinese buyers may reconsider their local property purchases and evaluate alternative investments elsewhere.
More Chinese buyers downunder are on their way.
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