The Association of Wall and Ceiling Industries Victoria cordially
invites you to their
PRODUCT INFORMATION NIGHT 2012
An opportunity to view new and existing products
exhibited by the major industry suppliers
whilst enjoying drinks and canapés and watching the
sunset over the city skyline.
Members are invited to bring along colleagues and
professional acquaintances to introduce them to the
benefits of joining the AWCIV!
Plus, enter the draw to win an all expenses paid trip for
two to the Annual Association of Wall and Ceiling
Industries conference in sunny Cairns!
HOSTED AT: RIVA, ST KILDA MARINA
DATE: Wednesday 7 March 2012
TIME: 5 – 8 pm
For further information, or if you wish to
exhibit, please contact the AWCIV office.
E-mail: info@awciv.com.au,
Phone: (03) 95536363
Queensland Building Boost Grant Extended
Building boost grant gets 3 month extension
The Queensland Government announced last week that they will be extending the $10,000 building boost grant, following a surge of applications in the run up to the original deadline of 31st January 2012.
The grant is available to Queenslanders buying or building a new home worth less than $600,000 and the State Government hopes extending the grant will assist in continuing to stimulate the construction industry in Queensland.
The stimulus package is still well under its $140 million budget but the State Government says it is gaining traction. The new deadline for applications has been pushed back to the end of April 2012.
Treasurer Andrew Fraser said "What we've seen in recent times is the confidence in the property market begin to pick up. We've seen from the information released by the Property Council yesterday that confidence was increasing."
"We've seen a solid result in building approvals this week and critical to that has been the building boost, so what we want to make sure is that the recovery that started is in fact supported."
"Thats why we're responding to the industry request to extend the boost".
He went on to say that the three-month extension will not cost more than the $140 million originally allocated for the grant in the budget. "Certainly this is the industry's request to extend the boost," he said. "The Government provided an allocation which can accommodate this extension. That's why we're responding to the industry demands to be able to ensure that we deliver infull the boost that the property market needs".
Fortune favours the resource rich parts of AUS: survey - 12/01/2012 -
Australia's two biggest states are suffering from a property confidence slump as investors go on the hunt in resource-rich areas of the country.
A Property Council-ANZ survey found real estate professionals were more confident about demand from investors in the Northern Territory, South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland during 2012.
However confidence levels were down in NSW and Victoria.
The confidence in the resource-rich states was linked to major projects such as the $30 billion INPEX Ichthys gas field project in the NT.
Confidence in the Territory jumped from 120 points in September to 145 points, making it the top performing state.
It was a similar picture in South Australia where confidence rose from 99 to 105.
Queensland recovered from a period of uncertainty, rising 10 points from 103 to 113 while Western Australia increased from 122 to 127.
Property Council chief executive Peter Verwer said the poor performance of the larger, southeastern states was worrying.
"With the resource-driven states firing the country still needs at least either Victoria or NSW to be performing well," he said.
Nationally, confidence was up slightly from 104 points on the survey index, measured in September, to 107.
A value of 100 represents a neutral position on the index.
Victoria dropped from 100 points in September into negative territory of 97 while NSW slipped from 107 to 105.
Verwer said Victoria had been a stand-out economic performer for the past half decade, driven largely by population growth.
But now that the growth was petering out confidence was shrinking.
In NSW, where people were adjusting to a new government, investors were "starting to get fidgety".
The worst performed in the December quarter was the ACT which fell from 102 to 94 points.
Tasmania remained low, dropping from 88 to 85.
The survey was based on a poll of 2800 property industry professionals in December.
Source: AAP NewsWire
New home owners boost must be extended: economist 10/01/2012 -
A building incentive scheme to lure new home owners needs to be extended not extinguished says a leading economist.
HIA chief economist Harley Dale says the $10,000 Queensland's Building Boost scheme for new home buyers must be kept open beyond the January 31 deadline.
He said the latest HIA figures, which show Queensland's detached house sales increased by 4.7 per cent in the month - well below NSW (22.8) and Victoria (11.6) - was enough to highlight the industry still needs assistance.
"If you have implemented a boost, which has had some success but still leaves you 40 per cent short of where you need to be, it seems pretty clear to me that it's not that appropriate time to be removing that stimulus," Dale told ABC Radio.
New Queensland home owners must sign a contract for a house worth up to $600,000 by the end of the month to be eligible for the assistance.
The scheme was tipped to attract 14,000 people when it was launched last August.
Instead, just 3206 people had taken advantage of the offer by January 1, according to figures released by Treasurer Andrew Fraser.
Even though the scheme has attracted less than a quarter of the buyers predicted, a spokesman for Fraser said they would not extend the deadline.
Fraser said official interest rate cuts and the $10,000 Queensland Building Boost had made it easier for new home buyers to enter the market.
"In October we saw a massive increase of 20.8 per cent in detached house sales in Queensland, and it's been backed up by another increase of 4.7 per cent in November," Fraser said in a statement.
"We have seen increasing interest in Queensland Building Boost applications throughout December so I'd expect to keep seeing more growth in this sector."
Source: AAP NewsWire