Property

Hossean Pourzand has quietly become one of the CBD’s biggest individual office owners, preferr-ing to keep his business activities below the radar but acquiring assets over the ye

Two Perth office buildings may soon be placed on the market, with unit holders in the May Holman Centre and 111 St Georges Terrace (formerly the AXA building) being asked to vote on their stake in the buildings’ future.

A market increase in the number of commercial sales conducted off-market is a noticeable feature of the recent profusion of activity in this sector of the market.

Listed property manager Wentworth Mutual is shifting its focus to the east-coast market, moving its head office to Melbourne as managing director and former high flyer Glenn Wheeler takes a non-executive director and consultant role within the company.

Developers are increasingly coupling major residential development with complementary retail development, rather than selling the retail component, as a way of diversifying their

With a delay of at least two to three years before the next new major office building features on Perth’s skyline, the refurbishment of lower-grade buildings is attracting the interest of investors keen to capitalise on Perth’s thriving office market.

Listed WA developer Cedar Woods Properties Limited has made a $10.5 million acquisition in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray.

The federal government has approved a fourth runway at Jandakot Airport and cleared the path for a proposal to develop 148 hectares of surrounding non-aviation land.

The Takeovers Panel has ruled favourably in relation to objections by both the Pivot Group and Saramac Nominees about the other’s proposal to take over Axiom Properties Ltd.

With one of Australia’s biggest private property portfolios, Cape Bouvard Investments prefers to discretely carry on business in Perth.

Much of the decline in value of retail and industrial sales last year can be attributed to a lack of stock rather than a slowing of the markets.

When Cape Bouvard began speculative construction on a $15 million, seven-level office building in early 2004, Perth’s office vacancy rate was 12 per cent, the market outlook was dismal and construction costs were spiralling.

After a lengthy period of stagnation, Perth’s office sales market last year broke all previous records with unpredicted momentum generated by a shortage of supply and rising rents.

The Master Builders Association of WA says two new economic surveys have confirmed that building industry conditions are set to remain strong in 2006.

Demand for land at LandCorp’s upmarket Minim Cove development in Mosman Park continues, with buyer interest in an early December release outnumbering available lots by four to one.

Listed property group Stockland has filed a development approval to construct a $23 million shopping centre in Baldivis with the intention of increasing its retail presence in Western Australia.

Melbourne-based fund manager SAITeysMcMahon has been confirmed as the buyer of Wesfarmers House on the Esplanade, paying $47.5 million in the second biggest property deal of the year.

The good times are continuing in the Perth office market, with almost $400 million worth of CBD property changing hands this year and local investors weighing in heavily alongside interstate and international buyers.

Listed property trust Aspen Group Ltd has bought the Dunsborough Lakes residential development from Ric Stowe’s Griffin Group for $93.5 million.

Action currently under way by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission against Westpoint Group hasn’t swayed the enthusiasm of many property companies and lenders, who see mezzanine financing as a mainstream way of financing developments.

Rapid growth has driven Great Southern Plantations to seek a new head office for the second time in two years.

After long period of industry speculation over Westpoint Group’s operations in the risky business of apartment developments, the corporate regulator last week took action against companies within its property empire.

Frustrated at its inability to control non-aviation development on federally owned airport land, the state government has taken a swipe at the Commonwealth and, in the process, BGC’s proposed brickworks.

Property Resources Management Pty Ltd and its partner, Lang Walker’s Walker Corporation, are to be the private sector developers of a new 338-hectare housing project called Banksia Grove.

The Mirvac Group made its first move into land syndication in Western Australia last week, highlighting the growing trend among property developers of using syndicates to complete projects.

Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort has been granted environmental approval for a $25 million proposal to double the size of the resort, located in the Shark Bay World Heritage Area.

Port Bouvard expects increased return to shareholders on better-than-expected prices for the final sale of land at its two estates, in Stirling and near Mandurah.

Mulitplex has received 54 registrations of interest, complete with a $5,000 registration fee, for 37 apartments to be offered as part of the Steve’s redevelopment in Nedlands.

A new study has found that Western Australians are increasingly buying their mortgages through brokers rather than through traditional lenders.

The State Government is offering the 2.48-hectare Old Swanbourne Hospital site in Mt Claremont for sale by public tender.

A small Western Australian interior design firm has been in the spotlight recently after winning several prestigious awards.

Benchmark Projects, project manager of the Mandurah Ocean Marina, has won the Western Australian section of the national Australian Institute of Project Management awards.