teza

True maybe but I left London as it was too expensive, I came to Perth as it was cheap (in 99), just coming back to the point, Perth is not cheap, or any part of WA thanks to mining boom

old.sparkles

Is there any signs of costs falling with the slow down?

spouse of scouse

I've lived in Perth all my life, Teza. I agree that prices of everything have risen out of proportion to average wage increases.

However, I do agree with OS regarding relativity. I was talking with a woman in Indonesia a couple of months ago - the cost of rice is now $1 per kilo. This woman works 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, and rice is a staple for her family. She earns $50 a month. That's what I meant when I said that surveys such as the one under discussion, that base their stats on the cost of buying goods and services without an adjustment for the average wage, are useless.

verystormy

Yes. Not hitting Perth itself much yet, but it will. The mining towns are seeing rents and things fall sharply.

munch

There needs to be more competition in Perth, huge monopolies in the supermarket chains and utilities here. They get away with charging what they like and get away with providing very poor customer service...they don't need to care because people don't have enough choice and have to use their services regardless of if it is good or not. Who has the time to travel 20 minutes down the road for a cheaper cucumber?!!!
And as for quality...the fruit and veg I see in Coles is nothing like the fruit and veg they show Curtis Stone holding in their ads, I wouldn't mind as much paying what we have to pay if it looked as decent at that!! Perth is out of control now though, we have seen a huge increase in everything since we moved here and not everybody works on the mines.
Petrol is much cheaper here though but you have to drive so much more to get anywhere. There was a guy coming out of the petrol station this morning and he said to us "don't know whey they are building all those car parks at Joondalup, in a few years people won't be able to afford to go anywhere...it will be either buy food or petrol but they won't be able to afford both!"

Zen10

Of course it is - it's suffered a boom. I say suffered, because the way booms usually work are that lots of money comes to a tiny percentage of a people in a certain industry. They then go out and buy loads of stuff, including real estate, at the present low prices. But, because they buy so much (at low prices) it pushes the prices up, and inflates the local economy. Note, at this point the tiny percentage of people with all the cash STOP buying, but everyone else is left with their old wages in a post-inflation economy = lower standard of living for everyone except the aforementioned tiny percentage.

the troubadour

Even to mention in comparison Perth with London in the same breath is a bit of a tall order. London in a world city on a level with New York on its own. It should be expensive the world flocks there as well as some of the best talent not to mention a major world financial centre.

Meanwhile Perth is a third tier city unheard of by most the world's population in a remote part of the world which can hardly be compared to London.

Perth has way over shot the mark. It presents poor value for money in contrast to pre 03 when it was a very fairly priced city where value could be found. Perth is a city not unused to boom bust. Why this particular boom has taken cost levels to some of the highest in the world remains still somewhat odd. Even factoring in Bogan greed which runs rampant in this place has been taken into account.

What sort of future will avail in this place remains to be seen. With the resource sector coming off the boil, already rents are in decline in some previously over inflated places, now if only house prices would be allowed to find the true value away from state intervention and a slow deflation of the bubble was permitted.

Zen10

The only way is down for Perth. The Chinese economy is in trouble, with a terrible real estate bubble and a dwindling tax base unable to fund the care required for its massively ageing population. When China slows, WA slows, as we have seen already.

The bottom line is people came to Australia from Europe for only two reasons - one, to escape persecution or class-based prejudice, and two, because land was affordable. An ordinary, average worker could buy 1/4 of an acre and live well with low debt levels. Now, thanks to the greed of the banks and complicity of weak unprincipled and corrupt governments, this is no longer possible. It won't take long for word to spread around the world that you cannot buy land or property in Australia, and how will they attract immigrants then?

renth

Whoa there folks, it's a bit premature to be writing Perth's obituary!

After every boom there's a bust, sure ( & if there isn't, then it wasn't a boom in the first place). I do predict some hard times ahead but this is going to be Asia's century and WA will remain prosperous because of this.

Perth has a wonderful future.

Zen10

I'm getting more and more sceptical about the "Asian century" to be honest. Japan is a busted flush, China is slowing and has some of the worst domestic conditions on Earth, and North Korea hangs over the south like a guillotine. I still think Europe has a lot of life left in it if it can reform in the right way, and only a fool writes off Uncle Sam. Agree with you about Perth though. It goes down from here for the reasons I mention, but it will remain one of the richest cities in the world.

renth

We've got the gold!

the troubadour

Very true. The reason a mostly blue collar workforce relocated to Perth was the affordability and wages. While the first is definitely not the case over the recent several years who can say how long skilled labouring jobs will remain well paid. I expect a lot of competition will see a decline in rates across the board.

It was a little like that late 90s. Perth gave every indication of being little but a branch office for Eastern States business.

So tourism is expected to pick up a lot of the slack? Unlikely Chinese tourists the growing market are likely to pay their costs off shore and travel in controlled groups. Tourism is a low earner at the best of times as well as paying low wages.

Any other ideas? Food production. Fine but hardly high earning. New Zealand would be raking it in if that was the case. Tasmania another example of fresh, clean and green but a shocker of an economy.


Very hard to see other than natural gas what else could really take up the slack.

Still ok by me. Perth has had a good run the CBD area and surrounds has become/becoming more citified. A big shame that public transport was really expanded to take in the future.
Sadly if the Liberal Abbott lot get into government that will finish it for at least another generation, probably a lot longer as typical short term pretend conservatives want to go with insane road building.

the troubadour

The Asian Century sounds great as a slogan but what does it really mean? Especially for Perth. Asians see Perth as they always have. A place to dig holes in the ground. It really has little interest in the grand scheme of things.

Asian immigrants flock to the East Coast. Chinese and Koreans to Sydney. Indians and Sri Lankans to Melbourne. They see business opportunities and prefer cities with a critical mass. A vibe and worldly.
With the declining dollar much more Asian investment is very likely in the property market in those cities.

I'd say Asian investment will be dominant in the CBD and inner city areas in Perth in a big way along with cheap buyouts of mines and farms where able to as well as property, especially if the price corrects as they can park money abroad in safe places like WA while they make money in the Asian region.

Perth will see a lot more Asian faces on the street level and running business but exactly how that will prove to be a salvation to future economic woes I am unclear about.

the troubadour

Exactly how will Perth have a wonderful future. If the price of resources decline to such an extent in an over inflated and very expensive market to do business in without a cut in living standards hard to see how it can.

Africa should be rolling in riches due to resources even taking into account corruption. It is high worth high quality markets that bring in wealth to a nation. Resources far too dependent on outside influences with an inability to influence prices to any great extent.

Amazulu

Your viewpoint/opinion of Perth/WA will be based on how much you like/don't like the place

Rightly or wrongly it will be of influence