Perth tenants should brace themselves as rising house prices, improving economic conditions and more newcomers to the state combine to force up rents this year, a leading property researcher says.
The latest rental report by Australian Property Monitors shows asking rents in Perth have increased in the first three months of the year.
The median weekly asking rent for houses in the metropolitan area is now $370, a $10 increase on the previous quarter and the first rise in more than a year, while units increased $8, to $358.
But with rising house prices, increased rents have not led to increased yields. The gross yield for houses is now 4.06 per cent, while units are yielding 4.62 per cent.
That leaves Perth ahead of only Melbourne among all state capitals.
APM economist Matthew Bell said he expected Perth rentals to increase a further $10 a quarter for the rest of the year, with a strong resources sector and population growth the driving factors.
But this was unlikely to be fast enough to maintain yields, which would drop slightly as house prices rose further. The median Perth house price is believed to have passed $500,000.
Really, the outlook for both rents and house prices is pretty strong,” he said.
“Yields will probably soften again, but historically they are at pretty good levels.”
Houses were usually bought by investors for capital growth, with units offering better yields, Mr Bell said.
Meanwhile, the Urban Development Institute of Australia said its own research showed a six-month delay in planning approval could add 7 per cent to the price of an average block in the metropolitan area.
UDIA WA chief executive Debra Goostrey said developers were doing what they could to ensure “affordable” land was being made available during a time of increasing prices.
“We also need the support of a fast and efficient planning approvals process to avoid costs associated with delays,” she said.
Her comments follow those last week by property researcher Terry Ryder, who said claims of housing shortages were a beat-up by property industry lobby groups.
Premier says WA needs skilled Chinese workers
Posted in Immigration News, tagged 2011, activity, allowances, Ansteel, Australian labour, Chevron's Gorgon LNG project, chinese, Chinese steel maker, Chinese workers, CITIC Pacific's Sino, Colin Barnett, conference in Perth, contemplates, deep water port, developing, expected, federal government, foreign, foreign worker, in 2011, include, iron, Iron project., labour shortages, major, massive, media, mill, Mr Barnett, natural gas, new, Oakajee, peak, perth, planned, Pluto Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project, port, Premier, PREMIER Colin Barnett, Premier says, premier's comments, prevent, project, projects, relax, Resources, sector, severe, skill shortages, skilled, skilled worker, skilled workers, skills shortages, State, steel, trades, trades areas., viability, WA, WA needs, WA projects, WA's, WA's first steel mill., Woodside Petroleum Ltd's, work, Workers, yesterday on July 28, 2009| Leave a Comment »
PREMIER Colin Barnett may ask the Federal Government to relax foreign worker allowances to prevent labour shortages at major WA projects.
WA faces severe shortages of skilled workers in 2011, when there is expected to be peak activity in WA’s resources sector, Mr Barnett told a media conference in Perth yesterday.
The premier’s comments come as a large Chinese steel maker, Ansteel, contemplates the viability of developing WA’s first steel mill.
Other massive projects planned for the state include Woodside Petroleum Ltd’s Pluto Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project, Chevron’s Gorgon LNG project, a new deep water port at Oakajee and CITIC Pacific’s Sino Iron project.
“I expect we will face serious skills shortages if these projects go together at the same time,” Mr Barnett said.
“Hopefully, we can build these projects with Australian labour but I expect there will be skill shortages, in particular trades areas.
“We need to be prepared to bring in some of their (Chinese) workers.”
Source : www.news.com.au
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