The dust is settling, and so to the victor belong the spoils.

Every three years, like the Hunger Games come to life, we ‘the audience” get to vote for our various Federal political aspirants.

Invariably the incumbent is disadvantaged, wearing the folly of their political hubris like a hairshirt. Three years of constant media scrutiny is a virtual death sentence at the polls. The LNP had a hairshirt of some embarrassing complexity. With leadership changes, onion eating and philandering foist high on the flagpole of foibles.

It was indeed a particularly aberrant and exceptional opposition that could wrestle a loss from this storm of electoral perfection.

In the social media echo chambers the din was loud for a Labor win.  The left clamouring to say their bit to each other, over and over, louder and louder. They yelled so loud that they drowned themselves out. Like noise cancelling headphones, Australia said “we don’t want to listen”. 

History gives us a loss for Labor and the pundits gave us the reasons;

 1. Bill - an awkward man. With cadence deprivation syndrome, that is the uncanny ability to make you feel uncomfortable while he spoke.

2. A campaign with an unabashed socialist and redistributive agenda that targeted the ‘middle’ (and like a kid goading another into a playground fight, called them ‘the top-end of town’).  Or as I saw one commentator write, tapping his penchant for the classics, “the Left flew too close to the sun and the wax melted their wings”.

3. Overconfidence. Nothing is less Australian. Said Bowen, “if you don’t like our policies, then don’t vote for us!” And they didn’t.

4.ScoMo - as smooth as butterscotch ice cream, packing family values and bonhomie in equal measure, he was the Liberal campaign.

So here we are on the other side. 

Certainty rules. A calmness emanates. There is a stillness. Like two Balinese village dogs, finished snarling and biting, one lies in the dust licking its bloody wounds and the other is busily pissing on tree trunks, claiming the spoils.

The risk of a rug being pulled from beneath the feet of various institutions and industries is gone. 

For the months prior to the election I have answered the questions, “what will happen when Labor win?” And it was a question asked with trepidation, could people even look into the maw of future uncertainty? And it seems no-one could. What would the world of no negative gearing and compromised capital gains tax law look like? Who could say? In the wasteland of collapsed housing prices and sales activity, why would Labor even countenance such depraved acts of revisionism? It struck fear into the heart of the home buying public.

Well that fear is lifted. Like a dark cloak, heavy on the market’s shoulders. Gone. And with a posie of positivity tucked under its arm the market, like a liberated Red Riding Hood, feels ready to skip along. The good news of APRA’s position change on lending assessment and soon to be Reserve Bank rate cuts ringing in its ears. 

The election result was a clarion call to get back to business. 

In WA we’re just ramping up again in our specialty, Big Hole Digging. This frenetic mining activity is filtering down to the residential market. Rents are up. Vacancies are down. My last four Buyers have been directly associated with mining. 

To steal a phrase from political circles, ‘It’s time”.

Derek Baston

Very recently it was announced that Baston & Co. Property was one of three finalists in the Victoria Park Inaugural Business of the Year Awards.

Not a bad effort for this little team of awesome people, we are absolutely thrilled!

The winner will be announced at the awards night very soon and was based on a number of criteria - Community involvement and support, numbers/growth and a few other key points.
We have no doubt that we’ll be up against some stiff competition given the calibre of amazing businesses in Town, but we’ve given it all we’ve got!

Additionally, we were also nominated for the People’s Choice Award.
We don’t often ask for much but we would really love your help and your vote.
It’ll only take a minute!

Please click on the link below to register your vote and thank you!

https://www.victoriapark.wa.gov.au/Business/Vic-Park-Business-Awards/Peoples-Choice-Award

Lee & Derek Baston

Baston & Co. Property

Ok real estate isn’t warfare, but it is certainly tough for property owners who are trying to work out what the market is doing.

Locally, there is a definite resurgence in first home buyer activity, with the established home sub-$550,000 bracket moving quite healthily (this does not yet extend to apartments).

Homes on their own block are sought after and selling well, particularly character homes that are well maintained, and modern 4x2 family homes.

Apartments of any description are good buying and can often be obtained below replacement cost.

Vacancy rates are low and rents are on the rise.

Poorly presented properties struggle to sell, with the Buyer pool being, on the whole, owner occupiers who want ready-to-live-in homes.

Investors are few and far between but the canny operators are back in the market sniffing around, understanding “it is time to buy”.

Activity-wise it is ramping up, by our standard we had a slow February (still in the top 30 Agents in WA), but already in the first 2 weeks of March we have done the same number of transactions!

Buyer numbers at opens are exceptionally good and bode well for future sales.

For me this simple metric of high home open numbers and low sales figures means Buyers are waiting for a cue to buy. What will actualise this demand? Honestly I am not sure even the Buyers themselves know!
The answer is always sentiment. Positivity. And Western Australia is about the only place in the country that has a sniff of that.

Stay tuned for more updates in what will prove to be an interesting marketplace this year as we weather the uncertainty of a Federal election.

Derek Baston

If you’ve not heard about the F45 fitness phenomenon sweeping the globe, you’ve been living under a rock!

45 minutes of air gasping, hardcore fun with experienced personal trainers and a studio of awesome humans.  

You’ll never do the same workout twice, and every now and then the DJ brings his decks in and gets the party started.

The Team at F45 Victoria Park have very generously offered us a free 3 month membership to give away to one lucky person in the hood!

No more excuses, now is your time!

Click on the link below to enter and Good Luck! 

https://bastonandco.com/win

*Entries close at 4pm Thursday March 21st and the winner drawn and announced at 5pm.

We are delighted to welcome Sales Partner and Buyer Manager, Ashling Brown to the Baston & Co. Property Team.
Ashling joined us in January after a fabulous 2018 in Real Estate Sales.

Ashling will work very closely with local Buyers in order to match them exclusively to our listed properties.
The Buyer Manager role is often a luxury in many real estate offices, however, we believe that this role is integral to the service that we provide and highlights our proactive rather than reactive approach to the sale of your property.

Ashling has an extensive background in Sales and Customer Service, with 11 years in Retail Management for some of Australia’s leading fashion brands.
This has stood her in good stead in the world of real estate sales.

“This industry is first and foremost about the people I get to meet daily and the dreams I help them to achieve. I get to walk away knowing I have done my absolute best to shape somebody’s life and future”.

Welcome to the team Ashling! We are so excited to give 2019 a good shake up and our picture is now complete.

If you are a Buyer looking for a property within the Town of Victoria Park, please contact Ashling on 0433 979 353 or email sales@bastonandco.com with your buying requirements.

If you would like an updated market appraisal or sales proposal, please contact Derek Baston on 0417 99 23 24.

Is this really a headline we will read on the front page of a Perth newspaper this year?

The rapid decline in available rental housing stock over the last 12 months (in the order of a 27% decline) and a vacancy rate that has plummeted to 2.8%, from a record high only 12 months ago of 7.3%, are telling indicators.

Critically, in a market place where investors have not been contributing to the pool of new rental stock for some years, an uptick in rental demand is going to result in increased rents. The landlords will be saying ‘ about time’, having suffered horrendous yields on their investments for many years.

Interestingly, a contributing factor to the rental tightening over the last 12 months is the pool of potential owner occupier buyers who have been affected by the fallout from the Banking Royal Commission.  Unable to get the the same finance that they could until not that long ago, this cohort of real estate consumers have become unwilling tenants. 

So what should we do with this information?

Rising rents are certainly the beginning of the real estate cycle’s upswing. But  with curtailed buyer activity linked to the availability of finance, there has been no associated general rise in prices. Yet against a backdrop of increasing wages and increasing numbers of full time employees there are mixed messages.

Certain segments of the Perth market have enjoyed double digit growth in the last 12 months, but overall the past 12 months have shown an over 1% drop in the overall median price.

It seems the real estate market’s engine is revving but the hand brake is still firmly on here in WA.

Derek Baston