The West Australian mining industry has shed as many as 5000 workers in less than four months. A lot of those were based in Perth in fly-in-fly-out operations but some regional towns are being affected to – Pilbara towns are starting to see rents drop as there are no well-paid workers to pay $1500/week for an average 3-bedroom house.
Well its February and therefore time to discuss the obligatory unaffordable rental crises. This story is about how to get free rent in Sydney – one of the most expensive rental markets in the country.
Yes you read that right -this post is actually about a positive record for a Western Australian property. I’m quite excited really – its a long time since there has been a positive statistic around here.
Its official the bushfires which have been raging through Victoria since Saturday, and are still not under control, are Australia’s worst natural disaster with over 180 confirmed dead and 1000 homes destroyed.
Well it finally came, the perfect storm for Sydney’s property auctions. A drop of 1% in the cash rate last week, the drop of some 30% of some property’s asking prices, and maybe the promise of $1000′s of dollars to tax payers in the government’s stimulus package, plus the first home owner’s grant has finally giving the dead property market a shove.
Office vacancies are on the rise lets review some of the highlights for the major Australian cities.
Perth
Perth’s CBD office vacancy rate may go as high as 8% within the next two years as the combination of large number of projects being completed and a the collapse of the mining and resources industry create a perfect storm. Companies who are laing staff off by the thousands are also entereing the sub-leasing game to try and recover some of their fixed costs.
To be honest I think Australia is going to come out of the current crises better than most. Lets face it if you have no money and no home – Australia’s beaches are some of the world’s best to bum on!
Australia’s house prices are yet to collapse to levels being seen overseas but the words “cheap” and “bargain” are beginning to be applied to less that $500,000 properties!
So where can you expect to find the most affordable housing in Australia – well in a word, in the bush – small agricultural towns or mining towns where the boom went bust.
The Federal government has come to the party to the tune of $4 billion dollars of Federal money to prop up commercial property. The concern is that approximately 50% of Australia’s commercial property mortgages are financed by overseas banks – most of whom no longer want to be exposed to any type of property anywhere – so are said to be withdrawing from Australia. Though there seems to be speculation rather than fact at the moment.
More on Federal Government to Bail Out Banks in Commercial Property
It looks like those with flexibility to move are doing so as the economic news goes from bad to worse in Australia this week. Miner BHP-Billiton has announced the loss of over 3000 jobs in Australia and for once it appears those who are not tied into the property market are doing the right thing -they are down-sizing.
