Property

The City of Fremantle plans to transform the port city by redeveloping the tired east end and revitalising Kings Square and the adjacent Myer building in a move it’s hoped will create an exciting retail mix to rival Garden City.

The rejuvenation of Fremantle’s Booyeembara Park by North Fremantle-based landscape architects Ecoscape has won the firm a swag of awards at the state’s inaugural Australian Institute of Landscape Architects awards.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

A Federal Court judge has cited evidence of "serious misconduct" and "ruthless disregard" for the interests of investors and creditors in the collapsed Westpoint property group as he appointed rece

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

MLG Realty has appointed Jason Whiteman (pictured) to the newly created position of general manager.

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 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

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.

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.

Western Australia's third largest building group, the JWH Group, has acquired the state's longest established housing company, Plunkett Homes.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has obtained interim asset freezing orders against four directors of Westpoint and a number of companies associated with Westpoint founder Norm Carey.

Subiaco-based property asset manager Wentworth Mutual Ltd has raised $20 million capital, mainly to reduce borrowings against conditionally secured property purchases that are yet to settle.

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.

Subiaco-based property asset manager Wentworth Mutual Ltd has raised $20 million capital, mainly to reduce borrowings against conditionally secured property purchases that are yet to settle.

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.

Mack Hall and Associates are auctioning five rare green title lots on-site at North Fremantle on March 25.

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.

Fremantle businesses used an audio-visual presentation last week by developer ING Real Estate and project architects Cox Howlett & Bailey Woodland to voice concerns over the proposed $200 million Victoria Quay redevelopment.

Roy Weston CEO Geoff Baldwin has stood down from the position he has held for five years and has passed on the reigns to the group’s current leading franchisee, Shane Kempton.

The tight real estate market and an increase in commercial rent prices are not stemming the tide of serv-ices companies setting up shop in Western Australia as the resources boom continues to attract business to the state.