Realmark wins x 2

Last week Realmark was announced as the winner of two major awards at this year’s REIWA Awards for Excellence. Voted Residential Estate Agency of the Year and taking out the Communications Award for the third time.

We are incredibly honoured to be recognised by our peers in this way. There is no doubt that these two awards belong to the people of Realmark, who work so hard everyday to ensure we are the best at what we do.

Next stop is the national REIA awards in Adelaide early next year, fingers crossed for a national win!

What comes next?

As we edge closer towards the end of 2009 I think we may have seen the worst, but I don’t think that means everything is coming up roses.

The market is moving into a new phase which also means a whole new set of challenges.

Stock levels are plummeting. To date, new listings have dropped by 40 per cent. This is of major concern because together with other pending economic factors, such as looming interest rate rises, affordability will be the next challenge. It is likely that prices are going to be inflated by this shortage of stock and some potential buyers will again be squeezed out. This will also make it harder for real estate agents as the competition for new listings becomes tighter.

People will also start to find it difficult to borrow, banks have already started to tighten their lending criteria in preparation for interest rate rises. The cost and availability of money will be a big factor and it is likely to impact negatively on the participation of investors and developers, the two groups we really need to be more active at this time because they are part of the solution to Australia’s significant housing shortage.

We are also going to see the end of the First Home Owners boost at the end of this month and while first home buyer participation has already eased, it is still likely it will have some impact.

It will be interesting to see how these fundamentals come to play over the next few months. But there is no need for negativity or panic, there is just a real need to be prepared.

A spring in our step

The recent and far-reaching decision to green light the Gorgon gas project off the State’s north-west coast has certainly injected some enthusiasm and faith into the economy.

In Greek mythology a gorgon was a vicious female monster with sharp fangs. One of her incarnations was Medusa, who had a head full of snakes and could turn anyone who looked at her into stone. A meeting with her certainly wasn’t going to be pleasant.

At the same time, images of the gorgon were placed over doors, on floors, on shields and coins to ward off evil. So perhaps that’s the preferable interpretation – an image to stave off bad things and offer renewed hope.

It’s been amazing to see how quickly people have taken up the Gorgon announcement as a symbol and used it to buoy their spirits. There’s a spring in our collective step again because we perceive something big is happening and feel there’s going to be a flow-on effect.

We’re closing in on the last quarter of the year and I think many people in WA anticipated some truly cataclysmic events this year. Yet, we’re still shopping and eating out.

We really are living in a very lucky place and feeling that life is pretty ok. Unlike previous cycles, particularly after the crash of ’89, when things shuddered to a halt, things are still flowing. Yes, the bump in the road rattled us, but we’re getting back on track.

Despite the scare, there’s little doubt we’re still a rather self- indulgent society and we expect life to draw us an easy but rewarding ride. When our political leaders are peddling the “nice life” line, who wants to argue?

There’s a lot of criticism of Gen Y but perhaps they are simply the obvious examples of where our world and values have moved to. They demand that everything should be ok tomorrow but they are also impatient. They don’t want to be humble – they just want to get there now. They’re expressing it bluntly, openly and directly.

So maybe if we are a little more honest we would admit how keen we are to embrace a gorgon in such a reactive manner! Equally, we need to keep good news stories in perspective realising it takes many successes to fully assure our future.

Gorgon great news, but don’t hold your breath for a boom

Unless you have been living under a rock, you would have been reading and hearing a lot about the Gorgon project in WA’s north, and probably a few headlines around how it is tipped to push WA back into boom. There’s no doubt the Gorgon project is certainly a positive. It will definitely produce much needed employment and inject some strength back into our economy, but is it going to save the day?

As important as this project is to our economy, it is not the answer to all of our woes. It isn’t going to see us return overnight to the prosperous boom times, where WA in particular, reaped the benefits from the booming minerals sector. It is naïve to think the Gorgon project alone will have the same affect and return us to the same position we were in two years ago, there are so many fundamentals that come to play in a recovery.

The thing about the recent boom is it has given many people in WA unrealistic expectations and this longing for good times gone by. The boom was not real life and if you spend your days wishing it back you’re wasting time and energy in the wrong place. If you understand the situation you can react to it, if you’re living on false hopes you’re not doing anyone any good.

Ever since the economic fallout people have been grasping at facts and figures that may signal that everything will be A-OK, it is human nature. And the Gorgon story is just another example of this.

In saying all of this, it is worth noting how compared to other countries around the world, ours has experienced much less damage from the global financial crisis. WA in particular has been quite sheltered from the fall out experienced in countries like the USA and Japan.

So yes, Gorgon and the recovery of the minerals sector is positive news for us but keep it all in perspective and keep focused on the bigger picture.