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Perth’s CBD office market has started to simmer, with more than $533 million worth of substantial office building sales clocked this year.
Major sales last year totalled about $150 million.
Stockland has sold its 50% holding in the 52-level BankWest Tower on St Georges Terrace (pictured) for $130 million to joint owner Brookfield Prime Property Fund.
South Australia’s Motor Accident Commission has picked up the CBD’s most eco-friendly new building at 226 Adelaide Terrace for about $100 million from the First State Group.
These two sales are the most recent in a spate of buildings to change hands in Perth. Last year not a single major investment was sold.
One of the biggest deals being done in Perth this year was an option to buy 192 St Georges Terrace, which the Commonwealth Property Fund was offloading for $152 million. The fund is also selling its Mill Street property.
Other sales include 99 St Georges Terrace, which was bought by a Singaporean investment group, and 432 Murray Street also changed hands for about $30 million.
The UK-based insurance company Standard Life bought 182 St Georges Terrace for $30 million and the Perth-based investment syndicate Australasian Property Investments paid $30 million for 30 The Esplanade.
CB Richard Ellis’s Andrew Woodley-Page, who negotiated two of the deals, says most of the current sales took more than a year of marketing to secure a transaction.
“It looks like the market has gone mad, but it is pertinent to note that nearly all of these sales have taken between nine and 18 months of marketing to sell. There is a willingness to buy investment quality office buildings in Perth, but buyers remain conservative and cautious,” he says.
The only investment to sell within six weeks of marketing was 226 Adelaide Terrace.
“The fundamentals of the Perth market are very sound. Once the flow-through of the current development cycle has been taken up, we will see very tight vacancy rates in the CBD since there are no more big projects in the pipeline,” Woodley-Page says.
All of the buildings that sold are well-leased to mostly prestigious tenants, and yields range from 8.4% for both The Esplanade and 99 St Georges Terrace to 10.7% net on 197 St Georges Terrace, which was bought by Sydney’s GDI Property Group.
Several other major deals are being closed, including the a 10-level office building at 251 St Georges Terrace for more than $65 million to investors and the New Esplanade Hotel site for about $20 million. Both vendors are receivers and managers.
According to John Williams, managing director of Colliers International, the activity indicates investor confidence.
“There is a lot of confidence in the future strength of the Perth CBD market. There were no sales last year for the first time in more than a decade, and that caused pent-up demand. Owners knew the vacancy rate was tightening and rents rising, so they held out and have benefitted,” Williams says.
Another smaller sale is underway for 41 St Georges Terrace for $17.5 million and a further two similar deals are currently going through due diligence.</body></html>

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After a year of few sales, Perth CBD office market heats up

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The streets of Western Australia are often made to sound like they flow with gold, magnetite, copper, zinc and nickel. But the south-west of the state is looking like the investor’s poor cousin.
Despite being in the throes of the mining boom, the Kalgoorlie/Boulder region of WA has never pulled the double-digit returns of the Pilbara.
New REIWA figures for the March quarter 2011 show the region has a residential yield of 5.5%, which is half that of the Pilbara. Local agents attribute this to the maturity of the market and good planning.
“We have kept up with housing demand for more than 100 years. Karratha and Port Hedland are young and unrealistic. The WA government has even had to step in to help with the Pilbara Cities project,” says Allan Pendal, a partner of Kalgoorlie agent John Matthew &amp; Sons.
Investors hold about 25% of housing stock in Kalgoorlie-Boulder so owner-occupiers drive development. Expansion of the Eastern Goldfields is likely to see some growth.
“While we have no surplus of housing, the yields are kept realistic because we keep up with demand. The rental vacancy is about 1% but the turnover is high at between 2 and 3%,” he says.
Valuer Michael Valetta, director of CBRE Perth, says residential prices throughout the region are very soft and will stay that way for years. He says the mining boom is not always the dominant player.
“In 2009 Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun were hit hard by BHP Billiton’s decision to close the nickel mine. People just didn’t need to live there anymore,” Mr Valetta says.
Canadian resources outfit First Quantum Minerals has now bought the mine, in a move that has already changed the face of the region.
“We have experienced a small revival with the mine reopening,” says local agent Terri Pens of Elders Real Estate Hopetoun.
“While 2009 was a tough year, things are certainly improving. My 150-property rent roll has no vacancies,” Mrs Pens says.
The estate agent expects a housing shortage as Tectonic ramps up its Phillips River project, while Galaxy has opened a lithium mine in Ravensthorpe.
In 2009 Mrs Pens sold 18 houses for BHP for between $375,000 and $395,000. She has just listed a property for resale and expects it to go for $500,000.
But despite this activity, yields remains below 5% for top-of-the-range houses associated with the mines.
In the parallel world of non-mining property, RP Data has the median house price for Ravensthorpe for June 2011 at just $140,000 – down 47.9 per cent on last year – but at least people are returning to the town and the school is full.
Further south, on the southern tip of the state, Albany, with its low rental yield of just a tad over 4%, is not expecting any such benefits should the proposed $1.95 billion Southdown magnetite mine go ahead. Such an operation, which would pump the mineral as slurry 90km from the Wallstead deposit to Albany, will produce about 600 jobs.
“We will employ locally where we can and those that we employ from further afield will be expected to live locally. The numbers will not be huge,” says a Grange spokesperson.
REIWA WA March quarter 2011 residential rental yeilds: houses  
 
Region / Median / Rent per week / Gross yield
Albany Urban Area $383,360 $300 4.1%
Augusta/Margaret River $437,500 $320 3.8%
Broome Urban Area $607,500 $665 5.7%
Bunbury Urban Area $365,000 $330 4.7%
Busselton $415,000 $310 3.9%
Esperance $350,000 $290 4.3%
Geraldton/Greenough $400,000 $320 4.2%
Kalgoorlie/Boulder $330,000 $350 5.5%
Karratha Urban Area $795,000 $1,600 10.5%
Mandurah/Murray $391,500 $320 4.3%
Northam $287,000 $310 5.6%
Port Hedland Urban Area $751,750 $1,600 11.1%
 
Source: Landgate/reiwa.com ©
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South-west WA loses out in mining boom

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Plans to mine parts of the Western Australia’s beautiful Margaret River prompted outrage among locals, politicians and the rich and famous.
Adventurer Michael Palin released YouTube video asking “who in their right minds” would mine Margaret River, and comedian Ben Elton has ridiculed the planned Vasse underground coal project. Actor Hugh Jackman proclaims the region is his favourite holiday destination in the world.
The coast, which is about 300 kilometres south of Perth, has world-class surf beaches, million-dollar mansions, upscale restaurants and some of the most important vineyards in Australia. From Christmas to Easter the entire south-west region is a low-key millionaire’s playground.
Two action groups, the No COALition, which fights coal projects, and SOS Margaret River, aim to quarantine the region from oil and gas development, quickly formed at the first sniff of interest from the resources industry.
In March mining outfit LD Operations planned for further studies for its proposed Vasse Coal Project, a huge underground mine just 15 kilometres from the town of Margaret River, was given a resounding no by the Environment Protection Authority.  Residents were concerned that groundwater could be contaminated and the area’s prestigious reputation as a holiday hotspot would be diminished.
That combined with powerful and relentless lobby groups and the area’s iconic status prompted resources-loving WA Premier Colin Barnett to declare Margaret River as a mining no-go zone.
Then in May, Barnett was reported to tell a Perth business lunch that he was prepared “to act” to block Vasse Coal Project.
“I don’t know how [LD’s appeal] will pan out, but at the end of the day it is up to the elected governments to make decisions, and it would take a powerful argument to convince me that we should place at risk the standing of the Margaret River,” he told the lunch.
Now the EPA has received close to 800 individual comments across 30 issues relating to the Vasse Coal Project. LD Operation’s appeal is with EPA conveners and a decision is expected within about two months.
LD Operations managing director Peter Ross has concerns about the validity of the EPA’s decision.
“We are currently going through the appeals process against what we believe was a premature decision by the EPA. Part of our concern with that decision was that it prevented a full environmental, social and economic assessment of what the impacts – positive or requiring management – of this project may be,” Ross says.
State opposition spokeswoman on the environment Sally Talbot says a local strategy needs to be developed to protect the unique qualities of the Margaret River.
“We did a similar thing for the Swan Valley some years ago and the same needs to be done in the south-west. Planning Minister Bill Marmion has had the EPA’s report for months and not made a single comment. It is incumbent upon him to state the government’s position on this,” Talbot says.
In New South Wales the same issue hangs over the wine-producing Hunter Valley. Barry O’Farrell’s government promised tough new restrictions to be placed on mining with favour falling to landowners.
Hunter Valley winemaker and activist Andrew Margan says that between a population boom and coal seam gas exploration vineyards have come under serious threat.
“AGL completed its first stage of exploration in Broke, and I am right in the middle of it and lobbying the state government,” Margan says.
He wants the government to give priority to agriculture over other interests.
“Barry O’Farrell says his government will recognise the primacy of agriculture throughout NSW. We are very happy with that, but we are watching closely and want promises to be made into reality,” he says.
In Queensland a year ago the Surat Basin Future Direction Statement was created to maintain a balance between economic benefits and quality of life. The statement polarised landholder rights, the protection of the environment and maintaining a good quality of life in a region under pressure from billion-dollar energy interests.
Meanwhile, in France, where vineyards are proudly protected by law, a group of wine growers in the depressed north are remediating defunct coalmines for viticulture. About 3,000 chardonnay vines have been planted on spoil heaps of Pas-de-Calais overlooking the village of Haillicourt.
Leading the project is engineer Olivier Pucek, who was born "at the foot of a spoil heap" but moved away and now runs his own hobby vineyard in Charentes.
He pulled together a group of winemaking friends to put down €24,000 and with some financial support from Haillicourt, hopes to create a new palatable vin blanc named Carbonnay.</body></html>

Coal prospects hard for wine regions to swallow

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Perth’s CBD office market is among the most tightly held in the nation, according to the Australian Property Council’s twice-yearly Office Market Report.
The total office vacancy rate in Perth is 7.8%, down from 10.2% in January this year and 10.6% in July last year.
In the six months from January, net take-up of Perth office space was 33,087 square metres. The city ranked as the third tightest office market, after Brisbane and Melbourne.
Office space absorption is at its highest rate since January 2006 and almost four times the 20-year average, the report says.
According to Joe Lenzo, executive director of the Australian Property Council’s WA division, the state of the Perth office market remains dependent on the resources sector.
“We can’t get away from the fact that the Perth office market hangs on resources, but what has been happening in the past 12 months is that demand is high but it is coming from third-tier professional operations that service the resources industry,” he says.
There has been expansion from accountancy businesses, legal firms and public relations outfits that are capitalising on the resources boom.
“They are picking up a lot of work and expanding which is putting pressure on the office market. Demand for space in the CBD is much higher than we expected,” Lenzo says.
The Office Market Report found that West Perth’s office market also did well as the nation’s second-strongest non-CBD region, with a vacancy rate of 5.4% in July, up marginally from 4.9% in January. East Melbourne is the tightest non-CBD office market in Australia, with a vacancy of 2.5%.
“West Perth is very popular with boutique operations such as medical services and project engineering companies,” Lenzo says.
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Resources boom underpins strong Perth CBD office market

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The City of Fremantle could become a ghost town as unhappy retailers pack their wares and leave port city.
Council bosses made a dash to Melbourne recently in a bid to convince retailing giant Myer not to close its doors when its lease comes up for renewal.
Myer has been in Fremantle for 40 years, and although it is in a four-level building, only two floors are used for trading.
In recent months a national retailers including Betts shoes, Jeanswest, Jay Jays, Millers and Rockman’s have all close their shops. Local operators like the Creative Native gallery has downsized to smaller premises. Myer closing would be a major blow to the city, which has only four anchor tenants – Myer, Coles, Woolworth and Target – in place and 800 residents living in the CBD.
Rents range from about $1200 a square metre for prime retail space on High Street Mall to about $500 a square metres about 100 metres away.
“Fremantle is heading where everybody else in retails in going. The Woolstores shopping centre is struggling and so are arcades and strips shops outside the major tourist track,” says Colliers International leasing executive Anthony Unmack.
Fremantle attracts hoards of foreign and national tourists and day-trippers from Perth. It is the most visited city in Western Australia after Perth for international travellers. It has a well-used café strip on South Street, well-patronised markets, heritage-listed prison and many fine heritage buildings that continually entice thousands of visitors.
“There is a well-worn tourist trail along High Street, Adelaide Street and the café strip up to the market, which is humming to the hilt weekend. But the foot traffic doesn’t deviate away from those areas, and retail is suffering,” Unmack says.
While Fremantle mayor Brad Pettitt lead a five-man delegation to Melbourne to negotiate a package to keep Myer in town, the council is acutely aware of declining state of its shops and commissioned a study into the retail sector resulting in the just-released Retail Model Plan 2011.
“The vacancy rate of 7% in the city centre precinct must be maintained or reduced though skilful leasing and business development strategies,” the report said.
These strategies include encouraging a better mix of retail to encourage more fashion and home wares, developing a management system that runs a fund for marketing and communications, a listing of vacant premises and a desirable tenant hit list. It will have performance measures including what increases in business have occurred and what the pedestrian counts are.
Already the council has changed planning policy to permit mixed commercial and residential projects up to eight levels high in the run-down east end of town.
Andrew Eastic, Fremantle Council’s economic, marketing and development manager, agrees that the area is in decline.
“Myer’s 40-year lease is about to expire, and we are working on keeping them here. Bett’s have left after 119 years of trading in Fremantle, and there are a lot of empty shops. We acknowledge this and commissioned the Retail Model Plan. We will implement many of the excellent recommendations in order to bring Fremantle back to being a retailing centre,” Eastic says.
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Fears for Freo retail as Myer considers skipping town

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A delegation of Chinese investors has inspected several farming properties in Western Australia’s Great Southern food bowl.
It included representatives of the Beidahuang BDH Group, a state-owned company that has 5 million hectares in China’s Heilongjiang province.
The arrival of serious interest from Chinese in agricultural land has divided local farmers and the WA Farmers Federation.
The delegation of about a dozen people, which included agronomists, farmers and government officials, toured grain farms at Lake King and Ongerup with a local agent.
Nearby Lake Grace farmer and WA Grains Group chairman Doug Clarke says that he has had three meetings with the delegation regarding investment in local agricultural land.
“The Chinese buy or lease farms in Brazil, Argentina, New Zealand and North Africa and in return they develop excellent infrastructure,” he says.
Great Southern farmers have made it clear to the Chinese they that want good port access and a sophisticated supply chain that is available for them to use as a third party. The Great Southern region ships through the Albany port zone.
“The delegation was responsive, and farmers here like the idea. I have been fielding a lot of calls from farmers I know wanting me to introduce the delegation to them,” he says.
So far the delegation has inspected properties that are already on the market, and foreign investors already own one –the Lake King property.
“The Chinese take their food security very seriously. One of them told me they produce 1.2 billion tonnes of grain and that is not enough,” Clare says. “Where we only produce about 3% of the world’s grain. We are very small in comparison.”
The WA Farmers Federation has expressed serious concerns about interest from China in 80,000 hectares of prime Western Australian cropping land.
Federation president Mike Norton believes if a large swathe of farmland falls under single ownership that many rural towns in the regions will disappear.</body></html>

Chinese investors eye Australian farm property

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Half a decade has passed since headlines screamed about the property crisis in the Pilbara: rent a fully furnished container for $1,000 a week. Many said it could not last but Karratha, Port Hedland, Newman and Dampier are at boiling point.
Rental investments in the Pilbara have consistently brought in double-digit yields and there is little evidence to suggest a slow-down.
This week Morgan Crawford of Crawford Realty listed a house for sale in South Hedland for $799,000. The 30-year-old fibro bungalow is rented to a mining company for $93,800 a year – reflecting a yield of 11.9%.
According to Simon Lane, managing director of Australian Valuation Service, Port Hedland is unlikely to cool off anytime soon.
“The mining companies are capable of paying high rents and to bring builders in to create new stock, they have to compete with BHP and other big players renting,” he said.
“Houses are expensive to build because we are in cyclone area and they require very specific standards of construction. Then there is the issue of identifying suitable land that can handle the mass of water that is dumped by a cyclone.”
These combine to create one of the tightest rental markets in the nation.
“All of these issues have created this extraordinary market. The WA government, through LandCorp, has found about 6,000 lots for housing here on high ground but this is not a fraction of what is required if the town is to have a population, as projected by the government, of 58,000,” Lane said.
“I don’t have a crystal ball but it looks like undersupply is with us for another five to 10 years.
Towns are known for their largest employer. Dampier is considered Woodside’s and Wickham is Rio Tinto’s. Karratha seems to belong to them all.
Karratha, 1500km north of Perth, is the supply and administration centre for the entire Pilbara region. Its rental market refuses to wind down.
The median house price for urban Karratha, according to REIWA figures, is $795,000 and the weekly rent bill is $1,600, reflecting a yield of 10.5 per cent.
According to RP Data, the median house price in Karratha has crept up from a tad over $160,000 in 2001, to slightly under $800,000 now, with the prices now plateauing.
But supply and demand still rules and rents are extraordinarily high at about $1,500 a week for a three-bedroom house and $2,000 a week for something with a pool. The situation is mirrored in Dampier.
“About 90 per cent of my rent roll is with resource companies and the properties are on one- to three-year leases,” says Ray White Karratha’s Richard Naulls.
While there is a zero vacancy rate, he says supply is at unusually high levels and buyers are coming back to the market.
“This week I have five offers on my desk for different houses. Four from investors and one from a corporate client. This time month ago I had no offers on anything. I have 250 properties listed, which is almost double what I had last year,” he says.
So difficult has the market been that the WA government had to weigh in with its $300 million Pilbara Cities program, which release sites through LandCorp.
Already development company Finbar Group is behind the $225 million Pelago project in the centre of Karratha. Already 60 of the 114 units are under contract for between $600,000 and nearly $1 million. A completion date for tower one is scheduled for early 2012.</body></html>

Landlords yield ore-inspiring returns from WA mining boom

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<img src="/images/stories/oceanique2-cropped.jpg">
The raging Australian dollar pushing tourists offshore, a massive oversupply of housing and a contracting wine industry have combined to create an investment desert that runs from Mandurah, 70km south of Perth, through to Esperance near the Great Australian Bight.
Valuer Michael Valetta, director CBRE Perth, says residential prices throughout the south-west are very soft and will stay that way for years.
“The low prices may attract investors to places such as Mandurah, but they will not see much capital growth for years, with this trend most evident in the higher priced oceanfront and canal properties. An oversupply of land also exists in the Dawesville and Wannanup areas, with values very subdued as a result,” Mr Valetta said.
The prestigious Oceanique luxury apartment building at Dawesville, developed by Port Bouvard, is a prime example of a troubled market. The company has settled about $60 million worth of sales, across 25 deals, in the 66-unit, two tower, award-winning project.
“We had hoped to have all of the apartments sold by early 2012 but we are averaging one sale a month,” says Port Bouvard managing director Stephen Court.
Of the 25 sales, 19 relate to presales and six are deals secured since December when the company discounted some units by 40%.
“Late last year we decided we had to be savage with price cutting to stimulate interest and it brought several sales to the table and renewed interest,” Mr Court says.
Now prices are steady at 25% off original projections set in 2007. “We started marketing Oceanique in 2007 when the market was blasting along, so we were hit hard by the GFC.”
The company is pursuing some sales made off-the-plan through the Supreme Court.
About half of the 15 pre-sales are currently in mediation as part of the judicial process while, the balance is in ’sensible negotiations’ with the developer.
“Some people were ruined by the GFC and we are not interested in that type of business but we will go all the way to settle deals that were done,” he says.
Port Bouvard originally had a facility with St George Bank for $101 million for Oceanique, which had a completion value of $167 million. By June this year the company had paid $58 million.
Despite the rocky conditions, Oceanique has secured some impressive sales, with two penthouses selling to a Perth-based mining millionaire for $7 million to be used as a weekend retreat. Two other apartments sold for more than $5 million each and only two of the 25 settlements are for less than $1 million.
The project is considered one of WA’s finest, having won the Master Builders Western Australia Excellence in Construction for 2011 – (best multi-unit development). It also received a commendation from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects WA chapter’s 2011 awards for residential architecture.
However, further south, residential prices in WA’s beautiful south-west, where such iconic names as Margaret River, Dunsborough and Eagle Bay proliferate, are believed to have hit rock bottom.
“Prices have plummeted in this region over the past few years by as much as 20 to 30% from their peak in 2007 and the GFC ended any hope on improvement,” Mr Valetta said.
CBRE’s south-west senior valuer Justin Anderson says the Margaret River to Augusta region has taken a hammering.
“Yields are just terrible in the south-west. Residential property is lucky to see 2.5% to a maximum of 3.5%. Traditionally investors in this market have looked for capital growth rather than strong yields, but growth has dropped by as much as 50% in some areas.
“Cashed up people from Perth and the eastern states bough their south-west houses as toys and when the GFC hit, the first things to be sold where the toys,“ he says, adding that houses previously valued at $4 million in Eagle Bay were listed for $2.5 million.
There is little industry in the area to support residential investment and viticulture is contracting as demand shrinks. “In the marginal wine areas such as Nanup and Bridgetown people are pulling up their wines because there are no buyers out there and the strong Aussie dollar is pulling tourists offshore,” he said.
A recent report from CBRE also points to exceptionally soft conditions in Bunbury and Busselton, with few sales made and an oversupply of improved and vacant land.
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Discounts of 40% on offer in WA's luxury coastal market

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As we look to what's ahead for 2012, Property Observer is republishing some of our most noteworthy stories of 2011.
 
Ghost towns, people living in the husks of houses and mum and dad investors unable to make ends meet. This is the picture of many Queensland suburbs six months after the floods.
All indicators show that sales activity in flood-affected Queensland has ground to a halt. 
Values have plunged. Tenants are scarce on the ground. 
Economic forecaster BIS Shrapnel does not expect any improvements for another six months to a year. 
“Confidence in Queensland is totally shot and the flood-affected areas are really doing it tough,” BIS Shrapnel director Robert Mellor says. “Construction has fallen so low that it is in line with rates of 15 years ago and close to recession levels of the ’90s. It’s pretty diabolical.” 
According to Mellor, there has been no increase in housing stock and no increases in the sale of building materials. “There is very little evidence of significant rebuilding going on,” he says. 
Oddly enough, the recovery in some suburbs is led by tradies buying up wrecked houses with a view to renovate and hold them as investments, hoping the memories fade fast. 
Local Ipswich agent Peter Mendoza says prices in some streets have dropped 45%. 
“A house in Jacaranda Street, East Ipswich recently sold for $150,000. Before the floods it was listed for $265,000,” he says. 
Residential property prices in Ipswich and the Lockyer Valley have tumbled, with the marketing ads tinged with desperate terms including “urgent sale”, “make an offer” and “huge price reduction” on houses with asking prices of less than $200,000. 
REIQ chairwoman Pamela Bennett says people are holding out for as long as possible by living in what is left of their houses or in caravans, unable to afford rent, and small investors are facing impossible financial pressure. 
In North Booval, a suburb of Ipswich, houses languish untouched with nothing but the grass showing healthy growth. 
“Only people with contacts in the building industry are getting work done – others are trying the weather it out. Towns like North Booval are ghost towns, with the uninsured living in damaged buildings unable to qualify for assistance. Those houses that have been fixed cannot attract tenants because nobody wants to live somewhere so depressing,” Bennett says. 
Many houses once worth $280,000 are now not worth their mortgages, and banks will not lending for rebuilding. 
“Such a considerable sector had no flood insurance, and when they do get grants they often do not cover the cost of damage. Those properties that do sell sell for land value,” Bennett says. 
According to REIQ’s March quarter figures, the Brisbane suburbs of Moorooka, Graceville and Kenmore have all fallen by about 5%, but the number of sales in other areas is so low that recording accurate statistics is difficult. 
Even the non-flood-affected prestige area of Paddington has suffered, with median prices down by 30% to $695,000, reflecting the overall softness of the Queensland market, according to the REIQ data.</body></html>

Queensland market doing it tough six months after floods

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About $2 million is being paid out every day from the $270 million flood disaster relief fund, according to the Queensland Premier’s Department, which ceased taking applications on June 30.
But despite these payouts, the Master Builders Association of Queensland believes the actual rebuilding of Queensland has amounted to very little and that southeast Queensland remains a disaster area. 
MBAQ chief executive Graham Cuthbert says his association members were suffering record liquidations and losses. 
“This is astonishing since 7,000 houses experienced total inundation during the floods and 23,000 sustained water damage,” he says. 
Of the 700 quotes the MBAQ prepared for flood-affected housing, only 20 contracts have gone ahead. 
“In Ipswich and the Lockyer Valley I have seen people living in caravans, with relatives or in damaged houses,” he says. 
Cuthbert believes that the cap of $80,000 for repairs is too low and people are doing what they can on the cheap and spending the majority of the money elsewhere. 
“The government is not insisting the grants go toward a rebuild. People must be taking a holiday with the money, because our members are not getting the work,” he says. 
In one isolated item of good news one canny Ipswich home owner was reportedly given a  $180,000 insurance payout, promptly sold the unfixed Helen Street house for $170,000 and walked away happy.</body></html>

Andrea Dixon

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