News Articles for John Gelavis

Western Australia's biggest builders are facing higher insurance costs, in some cases understood to be as high as 25 per cent more, as the Building Commission moves to reduce the reliance on taxpayers to foot the bill for failures in the sector.

Property industry lobby groups say WA Labor's plan to introduce a 4 per cent tax on foreign buyers of residential property if it wins the March 11 state election is a retrograde step for the state'

Slowing residential construction has claimed more scalps, with the flow-on effects likely to have negative repercussions for the affordability of new housing.

The cost of hiring tradies in Western Australia has fallen over the past year but continues to be substantially more expensive than other states, an industry survey has found.

Liquidators have been called in to recover what they can from the assets of Scho Homes, with the builder's collapse expected to put more pressure on Western Australia's homebuilding insurance scheme.

Challenging conditions loom for homebuilders in WA, as demand for new housing slows after record-breaking peaks of activity last year.

Major players in the residential construction sector say building and plumbing reforms announced today by the state government are simply a cash grab that do not adequately address housing affordab

BGC has been knocked off the top spot in a ranking of Australia's largest home builders, but the Perth-based company remains the nation's biggest builder of detached houses.

A proposal to limit medium-density housing has not been well received by the residential development industry.

The state government has streamlined the planning approvals process, rolling out consistent regulations across local governments, introducing online application systems, and removing the requirement for single homes that meet R-Code regulations to have to go through the planning approvals process.

SPECIAL REPORT: Reform of the approvals process is cited as the biggest challenge for Perth's residential development sector.