News

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Absolute Balustrades. After successfully completing his sheet metal apprenticeship and spending the next 20 years developing his skills and knowledge in the balustrade industry, Les Cowley established ABS in July 1995. His commitment to quality craftsmanship and compliance with Australian Standards enabled Absolute Balustrades to become leaders in the balustrade market, achieving the “Telstra & WA Small Business Development Award” for “Business with Fewer Than 50 Employees” in the North West Metro region in 1998 & 1999. ABS quickly grew to offer a wide range of aluminium, glass and stainless steel products. 

The annual Master Builders Housing Excellence Awards was held last weekend, and there were some very impressive homes on display. Absolute Balustrades would like to congratulate Brian Burke Homes on winning the Top WA Home Award for the fourth year in a row. 

Some more positive news for the Perth residential market. The MBA just released their Residential Outlook for 2015 and they have forcasted an increase in WA residential building value for 2015 of 2 per cent (see image below). “The 7.5 per cent seasonally adjusted increase in total building approvals for November 2014 reflects confidence in the market with the strength of the result slightly above industry expectations reflecting positive momentum,” stated Peter Jones, Chief Economist for Master Builders Australia.
 

The recent deceleration in Perth's rate of population growth has led to falling rental rates and increased vacancies, particularly in apartments.

However, one area of the property market continues to rise. According to the HIA New Home Sales Report, new home sales grew 2.2 per cent in November. New home sales consisted of detached houses and multi-unit developments. The sale of multi-units experienced substantial growth, reaching their highest sales level since September 2003.