New places for regional residents to access housing market
UDIA has welcomed the bringing forward of 10,000 new places under the Federal Government’s new Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee.
This targeted application of the Home Guarantee Scheme will help thousands of residents in regional areas access the housing market sooner.
The guarantee Is a smart approach as it efficiently targets the greatest hurdle for first home buyers – the deposit – and enables them to stretch their savings further without excessive additional spend by the Government.
“UDIA is greatly supportive of such measures which help buyers enter the market sooner,” says UDIA National President, Maxwell Shifman. “However, to make the Regional Guarantee more effective, it needs to be coupled with more measures to address the chronic shortages of development ready land in many regional areas, and the shortage of skilled labour required to build those houses.”
“We look forward to continuing our dialogue with Government on how these substantive issues can be addressed,” added Mr Shifman.
Home in WA set to air this week
UDIA WA are delighted to share the latest episode of Home in WA went to air on the weekend which showcased Murdoch Square by Hesperia.
You can view the episode by clicking here.
This weekend’s episode, going to air on Sunday afternoon, will focus on Curtin Exchange at Curtin University, which was recently awarded the Environmental Excellence Award at the UDIA WA 2022 Awards for Excellence.
Exchange is Curtin University’s first dedicated industry-connected innovation precinct that is adding vibrancy to the local area.
It has been delivered as part of the first stage of the Greater Curtin Master Plan, the vision of which extends beyond a traditional university to create a new, mixed-use, urban heart for everyone, that facilitates the sharing of knowledge and brings together education, industry and the broader community.
From the outset, the vision for Exchange has been to embrace the qualities that make great cities around the world and thus extend beyond a traditional university to create a place that leverages the University’s resources while creating a new urban heart in Bentley.
UDIA WA is a proud partner of Home in WA. Tune into Channel 7 or 7HD this Sunday from 4.30pm to watch this episode and for more information about Home in WA or to feature your company in an episode, click here.
National Congress opportunities
UDIA National Congress returns to Perth in 2023 and there are opportunities for UDIA members to get involved with the national celebrations.
Set to be held from March 27-29 at Crown Perth, it is the key networking event of the year as delegates from all over the country come together to learn, engage and interact with the compelling content on offer.
There are a variety of sponsorship opportunities available, including sponsoring one of the categories at the UDIA National Awards for Excellence where the WA winners announced at the 2022 Awards for Excellence Gala Dinner will be flying the flag for WA.
To view all of the opportunities available, read the National Congress Partnership Prospectus here and reach out to National Sponsorship Manager Anthony Nicolaou at anicolaou@udiansw.com.au with any questions.
Job vacancies decline in August
There were 471,000 job vacancies in August 2022, a decrease of 10,000 from May 2022, according to new seasonally adjusted figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Lauren Ford, head of Labour Statistics at the ABS, said the number of job vacancies declined by 2% over the three months to August 2022, although remained elevated in historical terms and are still more than double pre-pandemic levels.
The number of job vacancies in August 2022 was 41% higher than August last year (334,000), when the labour market was impacted by the Delta wave lockdowns. The August 2022 job vacancies were also more than double what they were in February 2020 (227,000), prior to the pandemic.
“The large growth in vacancies through the pandemic has coincided with a decline in the number of unemployed people,” Ms Ford said. “As a result, there were a similar number of unemployed people (488,000) to job vacancies (471,000) in August 2022, compared with three times as many unemployed people to vacancies before the start of the pandemic
“Despite the overall quarterly decrease, the number of job vacancies continued to increase in some industries, such as Retail trade (up 15%) and Accommodation and food services (up 14%). This reflected ongoing labour shortages in a tight labour market, particularly in customer facing industries.”
Across the states and territories, the largest quarterly percentage decline in job vacancies was in Tasmania (down 17%) and Western Australia (down 7%). The largest percentage growth was in Queensland (up 9%), followed by Victoria (up 5%).
The industries with the largest percentage decrease in vacancies over the quarter were Construction (16%) and Education and training (12%). The industries with the highest percentage growth were Transport, postal and warehousing (17%) and Retail trade (15%).
The decline in job vacancies was driven by the private sector, which decreased by 3% over the three months to August 2022. At the same time, public sector vacancies increased by 11%. However, vacancies in both the private and public sectors increased over the year (40% and 45%).
Land Report opportunities open
October sees the return of the highly popular Land Report, published in partnership with The West Australian, which provides an up-to-date overview of UDIA WA’s latest land sales figures and market commentary.
Using UDIA WA lot sales data each edition includes insights from UDIA and our members on updates in the land sector as well as providing an opportunity for our members to deliver key messages to consumers.
For your chance to be involved with the October edition of the Land Report, see here or reach out to Maddisen Booth at The West Australian for more information.
PropTrack Energy Efficient Housing Report – September 2022
PropTrack have released the findings from realestate.com.au’s June-July 2022 Residential Consumer Omnibus Survey through a new Energy Efficiency Housing Report that explores the supply and demand of energy efficient homes in Australia.
Energy efficiency and sustainability have become buzzwords in the property industry in recent years as homeowners seek to reduce their impact on the environment.
Since 2013, new apartment developments and stand-alone houses have had to meet a minimum Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) rating of 6 stars as a baseline, while the economically optimal rating for energy efficiency sits at 7.5 stars and above.
The report highlights that energy efficiency has become increasingly top-of-mind for property seekers. According to the realestate.com.au June-July 2022 Residential Consumer Omnibus Survey, more consumers now believe that energy efficiency is important than in 2021.
More than half (56%) of respondents believe energy efficiency is extremely important – a 17% increase compared to last year’s survey.
Respondents in higher age groups were more concerned with energy efficiency scores than those who were younger, with 62% of those 65 years and over rating it as extremely important.
Respondents were mostly concerned about rising electricity prices and the risk of bill shock. Concern for the environment is still a factor for more than one-in-two respondents, but recent electricity cost rises are predominant.
For more information and to read the report in full click here.
Funding available to identify and protect local heritage sites
Local governments throughout Western Australia can now apply for a share of $120,000 in State Government funding to assess, review, and develop local frameworks that protect places of cultural heritage significance through their local planning schemes.
The 2022-23 Local Government Heritage Consultancy Grants Program will provide local governments with up to $20,000 each in matched funding, so they can engage specialist heritage consultants to help with reviewing and developing their local heritage framework.
Under the Heritage Act 2018 and the Planning and Development (Local Planning Schemes) Regulations 2015, local governments are required to prepare a Local Heritage Survey (LHS) and a heritage list respectively to identify, record and protect heritage places within their localities.
Funding is available to help with assessing, reviewing, and developing heritage lists, heritage areas, LHS’s, heritage-related local planning policies, and heritage strategies or similar guideline documents.
To prepare local heritage frameworks local governments are required to work with their communities to determine which places have or might have cultural heritage significance and need protection as part of the local planning scheme.
To apply for the Local Government Heritage Consultancy Grants Program visit here.
Applications close at 5pm on Monday 5 December, 2022.
2021-22 Annual Report on State Finances released
The 2021-22 Annual Report on State Finances has been released, containing the final audited outcomes of the State’s finances for the 2021-22 financial year.
A general government net operating surplus of $6 billion has been delivered, which is $344 million higher than projected at the 2022 23 Budget.
The better-than-expected outcome was due to expenditure being $576 million lower than forecast at Budget, which was partly offset by lower than forecast revenue collections, down $232 million, mainly due to lower royalty collections.
The State’s consistently strong financial performance has been recognised by S&P Global Ratings, which upgraded the State’s credit rating to triple-A (‘stable’ outlook) in June 2022.
New $55m Kwinana facility to support building industry
Site works commenced this week on a new $55m clinker import facility at the Kwinana Bulk Terminal, the sole location in Western Australia to access the essential building industry commodity.
Clinker is used in the manufacture of cement, with more than 1.1 million tonnes imported into WA each year through the Fremantle Ports facility in Cockburn Sound.
State Development Minister and Member for Kwinana Roger Cook spoke about the importance of the investment for both Kwinana and WA at the official ground-breaking ceremony today.
The facility incorporates a bulk storage dome – which will be able to store around 40,000 tonnes of clinker – and a conveyor linking the Kwinana Bulk Terminal to adjacent Cockburn Cement operations. Clinker is also imported by BGC Group for use in the manufacturing of cement.
The new clinker circuit will significantly reduce the need for truck transport, reduce dust emissions, and result in fewer stoppages which lead to shipping delays.
Planning for the new facility has included the potential to incorporate additional storage, a rail loop, and other new facilities at the bulk shipping location.
The new clinker import facility is scheduled to be commissioned in 2024.
UDIA Online Access Code
UDIA WA are pleased to share a new Corporate Accommodation Rate Code for our members to receive 15% off accommodation with Crown Perth.
To access the discounted rates simply book via the Crown Hotels website and quote our Corporate Access code urband3357 in the promotional code field to receive your negotiated corporate rate.
Full instructions can be found here and for more information and T&Cs, click here.