Special Report: Call to action

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

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.

IF there's any upside to the current housing slump it would have to be the easing of several boom time pressures, such as labour shortages, input costs and time blowouts.

THE property industry was one of the most affected by the global financial slowdown, which gripped the state in late 2008 as plummeting global markets and job losses became more and more prevalent.

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.