Outlook Positive for WA

On Wednesday the Property Council held the Annual Property Outlook Lunch at Crown Ballroom. The event commenced with a keynote from Richard Gibbs .

Key takeaways included consideration of the growing pains impacting WA including population and talent retention. Richard also stressed the many reasons for optimism with demand remaining strong across multiple sectors, and economic conditions supporting resilience in the face of global headwinds. One figure highlighted to demonstrate this, our infrastructure pipeline of $140 billion, which exceeds NSW by $5 billion.

Other key takeouts included:

WA’s Pillars of Growth

- Business confidence and investment intentions

- Population growth

- Financial position

- Infrastructure Pipeline

URBIS’ City Leaders Survey

The keynote featured insights from WA's response to the URBIS’ City Leaders Survey, which captures key leader’s concerns. Ninety percent of WA leaders noted ‘Maintaining economic growth and competitiveness” was a key concern, and seventy-three percent noting “Managing population and demographic changes” was a concern. However, only twenty-seven percent note “Tackling climate change and delivering sustainable development” as a key concern.

WA Pain Points to be tackled.

- 0.9 percent average rental vacancy rate for the year ending Q 2022.

- 49 occupations identified as being as a state priority 1, including surgeons, childcare centre managers, roof tilers, electronic engineers, ambulance officers and paramedics.

- $140B+ in infrastructure investments from both government and private sectors

- 8.3 percent inflation increase

- 13.8 percent housing construction inputs inflation; plywood, glass, plasterboard, carpet and high fuel and energy costs.

Indo-Pacific Relations:

Richard left the audience considering how WA could deepen its engagement with emerging Indo-pacific nations, as he called for a shift in mindset to see potential engagement in terms of trade, commercial and business with nations such as Malaysia and Indonesia. WA can overcome some of its growing pains through more profound engagement with these markets. ?

Richards's address was followed by a riveting conversation with our panelists Steve Gillard (GDI Property Group), Adam Zorzi (Australian Development Capital), Felicity Emmett (ANZ), Andrew Williams (DevelopmentWA) and moderator Fran Lawrence (Cannings Purple). Some critical takeouts from the speakers were:

- We can expect to see more interest rate rises, likely at least two more in the coming year.

- WA will continue to perform countercyclically to East Coast markets. WA continues to demonstrate resilience and bucks national trends, and while we will see a fall in house prices it will be nothing like the East Coast.

- WA desperately needs more workers to help tackle labour shortages. While more migrants will fix the labour shortage, they will also create more demand, and the question of where they will be housed must be addressed.

- ESG continues to be a strong focus, and buyers are becoming increasingly more conscious of ESG requirements. It will take a whole of industry approach to ensure we get it right.

Thanks again to our Corporate Partners Stantec and RBB - Ralph Beattie Bosworth .?