Janelle Macri

The business sector remains concerned about some aspects of the proposed emissions trading scheme, despite having been given a year’s grace.

LAST year's boost to the first home owners grant and cuts to interest rates have given rise to a two-tiered property market, with the first home buyer and sub-$500,000 market firing while the middle to upper end of the market languishes.

EARLY analysis of the property market for 2009 is showing signs of revival, as the effects of the increased first homeowners grant, lower interest rates and stamp duty concessions for first homebuyers start filtering through.

THE first stage of the transition of Fremantle storage facility Fort Knox into warehouse apartments is taking shape, with major upgrades of the facility recently finalised.

ACCESS to finance and tighter lending criteria by the banks remain the biggest obstacles for the property industry.

AFTER causing a stir in the 1990s with his ANREPS business, real estate veteran Tony Wiles is aiming to shake up the industry again with a new venture, online auction site geewhizauctions.

THE property industry has called on the government to offer further tax relief to stimulate the market, despite forecasts of a decline in property tax revenue as a result of the housing market downturn.

THE state's second largest residential builder has called on the federal government to extend the boost to the first homeowners grant until the end of the year and extend the grant to second and third homeowners to stimulate the industry.

RETAILERS have taken the whip hand in negotiations for tenancies, with rental growth expected to stabilise and even drop in some precincts.