Property

Fremantle's Queen Victoria Street has long been home to an assortment of car dealerships and retailers, but plans to allow high-density development along the strip could lead to a redevelopment of the entire area.

Mining hospitality and accommodation provider Auzcorp will develop a $45 million, 136-room hotel in Tom Price after being selected as the preferred bidder under the government's Landbank program.

High levels of rental property demand are expected to continue in Western Australia as new data shows little relief for renters in the short to medium-term future.

The suburbs of Pepppermint Grove, Nedlands, Cottesloe and Cambridge have been ranked in the top 25 areas to live in, according to BankWest's inaugural Quality of Life Index.

The falling Australian dollar could play out nicely for industrial company Schaffer Corporation Ltd which posted a six per cent increase in net profit to $11 million for the 2008 financial year.

Property manager Charter Hall Group has confirmed Medicare Australia will lease 5300 square metres of commercial office space at its ONE30 Stirling Street project, located on the fringe of Perth's CBD area.

Housing affordability in Western Australia has improved over the June quarter in what is the latest confirmation that house prices are weakening while across the country levels remained at a 24-year low.

Osborne Park-based Joyce Corporation has sold its South Australian property for over $4 million.

A $25 million refurbishment of the Perron Group-owned Mirrabooka Square Shopping Centre will be the first step towards a wider revitalisation of the area, if approved by council.

A series of market indicators for Perth's residential property sector have revealed the slowest June quarter in at least five years, but analysts are divided over whether the slowdown will continue.

Eight months after revealing plans to build a remote operations centre at Perth Airport, iron ore giant Rio Tinto has signed a deal to lease 6,000 square metres of space at the emerging office park.

FIGURES from the Urban Development Institute of Australia (WA) show lot sales fell 9.5 per cent in the June quarter, to 1,057 lots.

In a sign that Perth's commercial property market may be warming up, Wesfarmers House has sold to Jandakot-based Ascot Capital Ltd for almost $85 million, although the price represents a significant discount on the property's 2007 value.

With three Liberal leaders - Matt Birney, Paul Omodei, and Troy Buswell - humiliatingly dumped since Colin Barnett's resignation after his failed bid to oust Labor's Geoff Gallop in 2005 - the Liberals have Mr Barnett again leading them.

The vision of creating one of the Asia-Pacific region's best airports - with 45 aerobridges and costing just $1 billion - has become a major challenge for Perth Airport.

Ascot Capital Ltd has bought the Wesfarmers House from Orchard Funds Management for $85 million in one of Perth's biggest property sales this year.

Higher production costs have hit Frankland River Olive Company Ltd which is looking to offload its Parmelia Olive Grove property.

West Perth-based ipernica Ltd will lend its knowledge to a Melbourne company caught in legal proceedings in the United States over its intellectual property rights.

Market volatility is likely to impact Bunnings Warehouse Property Trust's earnings in the 2009 financial year as it reported a $39.3 million fall in the fair value of investment property portfolio, in contrast to a $167.9 million rise the previous year.

Diploma Properties has joined the ranks of WA developers capitalising on the demand for apartments along Rockingham's waterfront, with plans to launch a new project later this year.

Many Western Australians, myself included, consider Ralph Sarich a household name, so I was surprised last week to discover that many people in Perth have little or no awareness of how he built his $1 billion fortune.

PROPERTY developer Marchmont has placed its Bushmead Road industrial site in Hazelmere on the market.

THE office vacancy rate in Perth’s CBD has hit another record low, falling to 0.3 per cent over the past six months, while West Perth is officially a full house, according to figures released by the P

A wave of new office projects in West Perth and the western end of the city will provide some much-needed supply to the area, which has the tightest office market in the country and a vacancy rate of zero, according to the Property Council of Australia (WA)'s office market report.

Increased building activity in Perth's suburbs will create more than 400,000 square metres of new office space over the coming years, as more tenants are pushed out of the traditional CBD and West Perth markets by record low vacancy rates.

LAST week’s decision by smallgoods manufacturer Don KRC to close its Spearwood operations next year has paved the way for a redevelopment of the site and about 60 surrounding properties.

It's hardly news that business is under-represented in the City of Perth; we've run a number of stories to that effect in recent years.

CITY Beach-based property developer Mount Lawley Pty Ltd has lost a Supreme Court appeal to revalue its 309-hectare site in Ellenbrook.

PERTH has suffered the biggest drop in house prices, falling 2.4 per cent in the June quarter, as capital city house prices across Australia decline by the sharpest rate in nearly three years.

West Perth-based Polaris Metals NL Has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Fremantle Ports that will focus on finalising the best option to export ore from its Yilgarn iron ore project at the bulk berths at Kwinana.

The Real Estate Institute of WA has quashed claims by a leading property forecaster that Perth's house prices are set to fall 15 per cent over the coming year, saying past predictions have been proven wrong.

As the slowdown in Western Australia's housing sector continues, the number of properties for sale in the South West is rising, along with lead times on sales.