An article from “the age” makes interesting and in some instances slightly worrying reading for someone looking at moving his whole family lock stock and barrel to western Australia.

The long article covers how successful Perth and Western Australia as a whole has become in recent years, how business is booming and how companies can’t recruit enough staff resulting in high earning opportunities for the right roles.

The article goes onto say:

They’ve had booms in WA before, of course, but nothing like this. That’s because previous booms were centred on one resource, affecting the handful of companies that were digging up that particular rock. It was nickel in the 1970s, oil in the 1950s, gold in the 1890s. This time around, demand is hot for a raft of commodities — LNG, oil, nickel, gold, zinc, coal and aluminium — and WA has them all

Now I don’t mind booms and the associated skill shortages because hopefully this will mean that some of the skills I’ll be going out to Western Australia with may well be in demand.

The thing that concerns me a little in this article is the fact that people seems to be flocking to Perth because of this ‘boom’ and the inherent opportunities to earn a half decent income. This is impacting house prices and land availability.

Paradoxically space is at a premium in Perth and WA as a whole. Demand for land is so intense that people are camping out for days to get their hands on a tiny parcel of the latest release — behaviour never before contemplated in WA. Would-be home buyers are increasingly discovering that For Sale signs go up in front of houses only so the agent can place a Sold sign over the top.

The article also goes onto say that there is also a chronic shortage of rental accommodation — an increasing problem for a state desperately trying to tempt workers from the eastern states and overseas. Terry Swift, a recruitment agent of 20 years’ experience, says people are willing to come to WA for work. “But they are also getting a surprise when they find out what housing costs here are now,” he says. “There’s a shortage of rental properties and there’s hardly a house available for sale. This has caught everyone by surprise.”

Bugger!

Now I keep a watchful eye on the rental situation in Perth, realestate.com.au is one of my favourite haunts and there still appears to be a large number of rental properties coming on to the market on a weekly basis. I guess were probably looking at the best of what could potentially be a bad situation really.

If we weren’t moving to Perth now (say if we were to move out in two years time) Western Australia may well be very different and less affordable places to live. House prices in Perth already seem to be on the rise by 30% plus in some areas!

As I’ve mentioned before, I guess comparatively speaking, house prices in Australia are still pretty good compared to what they are over here in the UK, I just hope we get there in time to take advantage of them