Western Australia (WA) Investment Property Research

Western Australia lies on the west coast of Australia. It occupies a third of the Australian landmass and is the largest state geographically. The majority of its population (75%) lives in the south-western corner, in and around the states capital, Perth.

Although Western Australia is the largest state by landmass, it is home to only about 10% of Australia’s total population.

Western Australia is known as the Golden State because of its golden dessert sands and/or the Wildflower State because of the thousands of wildflowers that grow during the six months between June and November. 

Geography

Western Australia is 2,532,400 square kilometres in size. It is the largest state and is bounded by the Timor Sea to the north, the Indian Ocean to the west, the Southern Ocean to the south and South Australia and the Northern Territory to the east.

The majority (54%) of the state is a dessert. It has a number of mines which supply most of the country's mineral wealth.

There are many beaches along the west coast, with many being perfect for surfing and swimming, while others lie untouched.

Climate

Due to the state’s size, there are several climatic regions. In the tropical north the "Wet" season is from December to March. The southern half of the state has a mediterranean climate with warm dry summers and cool, wet winters. The capital, Perth, has dry summers and wet winters. South of Perth tends to be cooler and greener. Perth has more hours of sunshine than any other Australian capital city.

Economy

Western Australia’s economy is very much driven by the strong resources sector, followed by the services sector and the tourism sector.

Mining in Western Australia has had a profound effect on life in the state over the last decade. Housing prices have doubled in a short period of time, while China, India and the rest of the developing world demand more resources than Western Australian mines are able to produce. Some key resources that are exported by the Western Australian mining companies include bauxite, alumina, iron-ore, gold, diamonds, coal, liquefied natural gas and wheat.

Besides resources, Western Australia exports agriculture products such as wheat, barley, wool, lamb and beef. It also has major wine regions such as Margaret River and Swan Valley. The wine produced is sold nationally as well as exported overseas.

Tourism

Recently Western Australia has become a big draw card for overseas and national visitors. There is variety and diversity and this has captured the interests of a range of visitors. Oou can explore the extended coastline or visit the outback, with an option to visit the lush rainforests of the mid north, while the wildflowers are a drawcard between June and November.

Some major tourist destinations in Western Australia include:

-          Broome

-          Perth

-          Ningaloo Reef

-          salt flats of Lake Ballard

-          Lucky Bay (one of the best beaches in Australia)

-          Blowholes in Albany

Transport

Western Australia has an integrated public transport system that provides road, rail and ferry services throughout the state.

Bus Services: there is a fleet of more than 1100 buses servicing 320 routes and a further 436 school bus routes.

Train Services: there is a fleet of 189 railcars making more than 1100 trips each weekday between 69 stations spread across a rail network of more than 170km.

The network comprises six lines:
- Armadale
- Fremantle
- Joondalup
- Thornlie
- Midland
- Mandurah


Ferry Services: there are two ferries which make 80 trips each weekday in Perth

School Bus Services: there are 688 school buses which service mainstream schools and 117 school buses which service special education schools, centres and units.

Regional Bus Services: there are 275 regional WA locations spread across 20 routes that are serviced by a contracted bus system.

Regional Rail Services: Transwa operates 62 scheduled rail services every week across four routes:
- The Australind provides two daily return services between Perth and Bunbury.
- The Prospector provides a daily return service between Perth and Kalgoorlie and an additional service on Mondays and Fridays.
- The AvonLink provides a weekday return service between Midland and Northam.
- An extended AvonLink return service (otherwise known as the MerredinLink) operates between Perth and Merredin on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Education

- Curtin University of Technology 
    o Bentley ( Majority of Curtin courses offered ) 
    o Kalgoorlie, mining education 
    o Margaret River, viticulture and oenology 
    o Northam, agribusiness, biosciences, environmental biology 
    o Perth, postgraduate business courses 
    o Shenton Park, four health research institutes
- Murdoch University 
    o South Street campus 
    o Rockingham campus 
    o Peel campus
- Edith Cowan University 
    o Joondalup Campus 
    o Mount Lawley Campus 
    o South West Campus
- University of Notre Dame 
    o Freemantle Campus 
    o Broome Campus
- University of Western Australia 
    o UWA Claremont 
    o Crawley Campus 
    o UWA Albany 

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