Jenelle Carter

Western Australia’s Wheatbelt could have its own $6 million convention and exhibition centre if the Dowerin Machinery Field Days board has its way.

Stretch marks are the bane of all women unlucky enough to develop them, but Fariba Fanaian has turned hers into a successful enterprise, marketing the natural stretch mark oil her mother and grandmother specially formulated for her, through the family bus

The city’s retail sector is heating up with agents witnessing price increases of more than 20 per cent in less than a year for prime space in the Hay Street and Murray Street mall precincts.

Developer Finbar and a joint venture partner have paid $6 million for a site on the corner of Milligan and Wellington streets in Perth.

Industrial sales agents are tipping Bayswater and Bassandean as the next areas to attract major investment, as land and infrastructure within 15 kilometres of the city becomes increasingly scarce.

Perth restaurateurs Sid Grewal and Murray Kimber are making curry in a hurry with their latest restaurant, Mela, opening on William Street in Northbridge just six months after the launch of the Cinnamon Club, their contemporary Indian noshery in Leedervil

Australian investors spent $13.3 billion in overseas property markets last year, $8.9 billion of this in the US, making Australia the largest foreign buyer of US assets, according to a recent research paper.

Film-maker Michael Garcia is the latest Western Australian with ambitions to make a movie here.

Building approvals in Western Australia were down 21 per cent in February 2006 to 2,095, according to figures from the Department of Treasury and Finance.

A design showcase from Western Australia has just returned from Italy after a successful exhibition of locally designed contemporary furniture, lighting and products at Milan’s prestigious Salone Satellite design fair.

Perth’s inner city continues to be a major investment focus in the local market amid strong off-the-plan apartment sales and major investments in new city residential and infrastructure projects.

The Claremont City Council has given developers Hawaiian and Multiplex the green light for a $340 million, seven-storey residential and retail development along St Quentin Avenue in Claremont, almost a decade after the developers bought the site.

The March quarter labour market figures paint a rosy picture of Western Australia with an unemployment rate of 4.1 per cent, the lowest in the country and the highest employment growth at 2.2 per cent.

Lifestyle villages are hot property thanks to a booming market and an ageing population wishing to sell up and settle in to a village with a difference.

The Building Code of Australia will adopt five-star energy efficiency measures for new homes from May 1, raising concerns about the potential impact on construction costs.

Another prime mixed-use lot has been released to tender in Midland amid a booming commercial and residential property market in Perth’s north-eastern corridor.

The state government’s announcement of a new state-wide land and redevelopment agency is welcome news for those in the industry who believe local governments have stifled development in parts of Western Australia.

The Town of Victoria Park has knocked back an application for a 12-storey residential and commercial development near the foreshore at Burswood, further illustrating the growing issue of high-rise development.

The National Trust of Australia (WA), a community-based heritage organisation, has raised concerns about the future of Newspaper House and other heritage-listed buildings when the proposed 28-storey Westralia Square building, by Multiplex and Griffin Grou

Inventors in need of small grants can approach the office of Science, Technology and Innovation within the state Department of Industry and Resources to access a range of schemes to assist in skills training and initial development.

Swiss-born inventor Bruno Wittwer is back in business, doing what he loves most – inventing and developing solar-powered pumps.

Finding the fast-track to commercial success is often as difficult for inventors and designers as bringing a concept to life.

Fremantle identity and Esplanade Hotel managing director Marilyn New is in mediation talks to secure planning approval to build 65 apartments within the existing Wool Stores building in Fremantle.

Boat builder Gavin Ager has been working “flat out” taking his folding boat design company Flatout Boats Pty Ltd to its acquisition by listed Canning Vale-based advanced materials group, Quickstep Holdings Ltd.

Planning and infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan has labelled a report from the residential arm of the Property Council of Australia as "intellectually dishonest" for depicting government charges on new housing as an enemy to first home buyers.

Commercial office rents in Subiaco are said to be matching, and in some cases rivaling, rents for prime space in West Perth as businesses line up to get a piece of the Subiaco lifestyle.

Property industry representatives remain skeptical of any real benefits to homebuyers as a result of the State Government’s tax reform plans announced last week.

Premier Alan Carpenter remained firm on the state's opposition to uranium mining despite John Howard signalling that a deal to sell yellowcake to China was likely.

Calls for the liberalisation of liquor licensing laws have been heeded by the state government which this week announced sweeping changes to way alcohol can be sold in Western Australia.

Hot on the heels of Perth’s residential land grab are industrial land and property buyers snapping up land and office-warehouse developments in the burgeoning suburbs of Wangara, Balcatta, Malaga and East Rockingham.

Hot on the heels of Perth’s residential land grab are industrial land and property buyers snapping up land and office-warehouse developments in the burgeoning suburbs of Wangara, Balcatta, Malaga and East Rockingham.

Western Australia is in the grips of amber fever, with three new breweries in the pipeline set to cash in on the growing consumer market for premium boutique beer.