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The Real Estate Institute of Western Australia president David Airey has downplayed a report that the Perth rental market was tight with rents going up.
The REIWA data currently shows 4,200 rental properties on the market after a significant jump which puts the vacancy rate rose at 3.2% up from a tight 1.9% in December 2012.
The data release followed claims that Perth was among the country’s most expensive capital cities to rent a house, according to Australian Property Monitors, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/landlords/darwin-s-%24690-weekly-rental-tops-national-median-weekly-asking-rents-apm/2013071163177">who gave the median advertised asking rent for houses in Perth at $490 per week, just $10 below Sydney's $500</a>.
APM’s June quarter rental market report suggested record levels of immigration into Perth from eastern states when there hadn’t been much building prompted the shift.
Perth was the only capital city in the country to secure growth in both house and apartment rents during the June quarter, according to APM which hd house rents up 14% and units up 13.3% in the past year.
But REIWA data for the three months to May put the Perth median rent at $475 per week. This was up by just $5 on the March quarter and was generated solely byunits and apartments as house rents didn’t shift.
REIWA says rental listings are 10% up over the June quarter at 53% higher than the same time last year.
"The data from our members across the metropolitan area put the median rental for houses at $480 per week and units at $455 per week.
"But of course that means that half of all rental properties on the market are under that price, as the median is the middle point in the market.”
Mr Airey expects to see a softening in rents for the second half of this year because of a slowing economy and strong first homebuyer activity.
“Our mining based economy and associated jobs is not as strong as it was last year.
"Separate to that, the significant number of first home buyers means that many tenants are leaving the rental system for a mortgage, thereby freeing-up more stock back into the rental system,” Mr Airey said.
He also went on to say that the real estate agents had noticed a significant drop in the level of enquiries they were getting for rental accommodation and that long queues of prospective tenants at home-opens had disappeared.
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REIWA says Perth rental tightness not as APM claims

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Nakheel, the Dubai property development company and builder of artificial islands of the United Arab Emirates coast, has reported a climb in profit.
Their profit climbed 57% as buyers have re-emerged in the sheikhdom’s long-troubled real estate market.
Nakheel’s revenue rose 36% to 4.23 billion dirhams, according to Arabianbusiness.com. Its net income rose to 1.2 billion dirhams ($360million) from 767 million dirhams a year earlier.
Nakheel anticipates generating $1 billion from new projects and sale of land.
The state-owned property group was bailed out by the Dubai government in 2009 after the GFC belatedly hit Dubai causing a severe crash in the property market.
Nakheel was then headed by Chris O’Donnell, the Australian who was its chief executive for five years.
After his GFC-induced dismissal he won a $3.7 million legal battle after filing a breach of contract lawsuit with the Dubai World Tribunal against his former company.
O’Donnell had hit the headlines during the property boom in the UAE given he oversaw the major projects including The World and Palm Jumeriah.
The World that is about 300 islands formed together to look like the world from the air,  created off the coast of Dubai.
Palm Jumeirah was launched in 2001 as one man-made island in the shape of its palm tree cultural icon.
Since last September, O’Donnell has been president of Nakheel rival property developer, Al Futtaim Real Estate Group (Afreg) whose major property is the Dubai Festival City.
Afreg is the property development and operations arm of Al Futtaim Group which was established in the 1930s initially as a trading company.
Al Futtaim is structured into operational divisions including automotive, engineering, electronics and technology, retail, financial services, education, real estate and construction.
Al Futtaim operates across the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia and Europe.
Before heading to Dubai, O’Donnell had held the managing director position at Investa Property Group.
 
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Dubai's Nakheel back to profit

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Over the May quarter, regional property markets including Queensland country, SA country, Tasmania country and the Northern Territory recorded growth in values.

But Victorian country, NSW country and WA country all experienced a decrease within the market, according to Residex.
The worst preforming area within Australia was Western NSW. The capital growth of the last quarter was a negative 9.79% with a median house price of $150,000.
Next behind was the NSW area of Charleville houses where the last quarter’s capital growth was a negative 7.21% with a median house price of $253,500.
The top five performing growth areas over the quarter within the Australian states and territories (in order) are:
<img height="37" width="30" src="/images/stories/2013/07/houserules1.jpg" alt="houserules1">Tasmania country units was the top performing where capital growth over the last quarter grew 6.51% and the median value of houses was $203,000.
<img height="32" width="30" src="/images/stories/2013/07/houserules2.jpg" alt="houserules2">Mount Tambourine houses, Qld experienced capital growth over the last quarter of 5.40%, with median house prices being $467,000.
<img height="39" width="30" src="/images/stories/2013/07/houserules3.jpg" alt="houserules3">Launceston houses, Tasmania where capital growth over the last quarter was 5.40% and the median value for houses was $270,000.
<img height="38" width="30" src="/images/stories/2013/07/houserules4.jpg" alt="houserules4">Portland houses, Victoria had capital growth of 4.26% over the last quarter where median house prices are $212,000.
<img height="40" width="30" src="/images/stories/2013/07/houserules5.jpg" alt="houserules5">South-east South Australia houses had capital growth over the last quarter at 3.99% and the median house price was $287,000.
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Top 5 regional property markets over May quarter: Residex

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Costco is set to open up it’s <img alt="7one" height="40" width="30" src="/images/stories/2013/07/7one.jpg">th store in Australia in Sydney's Marsden Park.
The US retailer is buying into Sydney Business Park joining IKEA, Bunnings and Masters at the Richmond Road site.
Cotco has secured a 59,830 square metre site (pictured below).
<img alt="costcojuly4one" height="313" width="470" src="/images/stories/2013/07/costcojuly4one.jpg">
<img alt="costcojuly4two" height="329" width="470" src="/images/stories/2013/07/costcojuly4two.jpg">
The Marsden Park Development is 551 hectares rezoned in 2010.
Costco has opened three stores,  <img alt="houserules1" height="37" width="30" src="/images/stories/2013/07/houserules1.jpg"> at Melbourne’s Docklands in 2009, <img alt="houserules2" height="32" width="30" src="/images/stories/2013/07/houserules2.jpg">at Auburn in NSW and <img alt="houserules3" height="39" width="30" src="/images/stories/2013/07/houserules3.jpg"> at Canberra Airport.
There are a further three to be opened in <img src="/images/stories/2013/07/houserules4.jpg" width="30" height="38" alt="houserules4"> Ringwood (VIC), <img src="/images/stories/2013/07/houserules5.jpg" width="30" height="40" alt="houserules5"> Cross Roads (NSW) and <img src="/images/stories/2013/07/houserules6.jpg" width="30" height="38" alt="houserules6">North Lakes (QLD), in the coming year.
The Marsden Park precinct will undergo a $102 million upgrade, where the NSW state government will fund the majority of the capital needed for the upgrade.
According to the NSW state government Planning and Infrastructure webpage, the preinct  has the potential to provide 10,000 jobs and 1,200 homes for the growing northwest of Sydney.
Once the site is developed 70 hectares of commercial land will be present, along with 40 hectares of bulky good retailing, 206 hectares of industrial land and 63 hectares of conservation land and open space along with housing nearby the development to accommodate the population.
The site is located 40 kilometres northwest of Sydney's CBD.
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Costco is set to open up its seventh store in Australia in Sydney's Marsden Park

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Mt Buller, the premier ski resort of the Victorian alpine region, has around 96 properties currently listed for sale.
The array of properties that suit investors and owner occupiers start from $205,000 up to $1,625,000.
By comparison to <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/victoria/falls-creek-offerings-from-%2435000-to-%2414-million/2013062762749?utm_source=po&amp;utm_medium=aida&amp;utm_campaign=victoria" target="_blank">Falls Creek</a> and Mt. Hotham, the least expensive of Mt Buller sits well above the least expensive of both Falls Creek’s $35,000 and Mt. Hotham’s $79,000.
Mt Buller is referred to as the Bondi Beach of the ski slopes, given its winter popularity.
Mt. Buller is within a three-hour scenic drive from Melbourne, just 248-kilometres distance.
It offers more than 80 kilometres of ski and board trails that are marked from the northern and southern slopes, where 20% are beginner, 45% intermediate and 35% advanced.
One of the sales since last season was 347 Chamois Road. Comprising four bedrooms, three bathrooms and one car spot, it sold for $980,000 through John H Castran.
It comprised of four bedrooms, three bathrooms and one car spot.
Grollo Group, the property tourism Investment group, developed and owned the Chalet Hotel (pictured below), which has 68 apartments. At the end of the ski season in 2012, some 22 out of 24 were sold off to individual buyers for a total combined price upwards of $4 million.
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/stories/2013/06/mtbullerjune28one.jpg" alt="mtbullerjune28one" width="470" height="323">
One of the sales after the auction was the Chalet Hotel’s penthouse, which sold for about $1 million.
Currently there are three apartments listed in the Chalet Hotel on realestate.com.au.
A two bedroom, one bathroom apartment located on level four is listed at $320,000, the cheapest of the three.
In March 2012, this same apartment 402 was listed with a $365,000 asking price.
Located on level eight, there is a two bedroom, one bathroom apartment listed at $395,000 furnished. The 801 Chalet Hotel apartment was initially listed in November 2012 at $420,000.
The most expensive of the three listed in the Chalet Hotel is a three bedroom, two bathroom and one car space at $850,000, located on level seven.
The cheapest offering at Mt Buller is a one bedroom and one bathroom Breathtaker apartment which can accommodate four people. This apartment is listed at $205,000.
With the most expensive listing is at 234 Summit Road. Its priced at $1,625,000 furnished. It contains three bedrooms, two bathrooms and two car spaces. The 4/234 Summit Road apartment is offered for the first time, in which is a sustainably built home offers a luxurious living lifestyle on the slopes of Mt. Buller.
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Mt Buller's current listings range from $205,000 up to $1,625,000

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There are about 65 Falls Creek properties listed for sale on the realestate.com.au portal, as the Victorian alpine ski resort 2013 ski season gets into gear.
Set around 4.5 hours from Melbourne, the properties listed on realestate.com.au range from $35,000 to $1.4 million.
The ski location's median apartment price in April was $346,700, according to RP Data.
The cheapest $35,000 offering sits within Morry Schwartz’s development, Silverski.
Suggesting there has been little price appreciation for the Silverski studios, the <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-studio-vic-falls+creek-113110019" target="_blank">112 and 113 apartments</a> (pictured below) sold for $30,000 in 2011 when Schwartz offloaded his entire mountain holdings.
{yoogallery src=[images/stories/2013/06/june27silverski]}
Now they are re-listed with a $35,000 asking price each.
Christa Zirknitzer, from RT Edgar Alpine Bright, said recently that 112 and 113 were "expected to fetch the asking price." The Silverski 112 and 113 are currently under offer. 

She told Property Observer that “there has been some market growth where the majority are regular home/apartment buyers and not investors”.
Of the 77 Falls Creek apartments developed and sold by Morry Schwartz, 15 of them have been re-listed for sale since the owners bought them back in 2011.
His offerings were with no reserve price.
A <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-alpine-vic-falls+creek-113222843" target="_blank">studio apartment</a> (pictured below) with a kitchenette and spa bath is listed with $149,000 hopes.
{yoogallery src=[images/stories/2013/06/june27bogong]}
The studio apartment is part of a complex that includes a restaurant, swimming pool and a sauna.
Christa Zirknitzer sold six properties that were recently listed from the Schwarz development fetching between $120,000 - $125,000.
Originally sold at the August 2011, apartment 301 of the Huski Development, another of Schwarz’s developments, been re-listed at $575,000.
The most recent sales - dating from around January this year - were in the St Falls East complex when  apartments <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-apartment-vic-falls+creek-111929675">604 and 406 St Falls East</a> were sold. Both sold after lenghty time on the market. 
Apartment 604 was sold at an undisclosed price, but only after the asking price was adjusted to $380,000 down from $495,000 where it was on the market for 200 plus days.

It contains two bedrooms and two bathrooms with a balcony and an outdoor entertaining area.

Apartment 406 in St Falls East was sold at an undisclosed price having been listed at $250,000 for the one bedroom and one bathroom offering.

Located 356 kilometres, Falls Creek has a range of runs - 17% are beginner, 60% are intermediate and 23% advanced.
There are also 15 lifts to take skiers to these runs.
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Sam Sabbatucci

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