_Focus on | Perth - The lifestyle city
Liveability
Perth ranked in 12th place of the World’s Most Liveable Cities in 2018, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, as shown in Table 1. The index is based on 30 factors spread across five areas: stability, infrastructure, education, health care and environment.
City Wealth Index
Perth ranked in the top quintile of the cities that matter to the ultra-wealthy in the Knight Frank City Wealth Index 2018, ranking in 53rd spot.
The best performing category for Perth was ‘Future’ (56th place), ranking higher than Brisbane (57th), based on the forecast of economic performance.
Perth was also 13 places higher (63rd) than Brisbane for ‘wealth’. The two elements that contributed to this category include the number of households earning US$250,000 in 2017, and the other being how fast this price bracket is expected to grow over the next five years.
‘Investment’ was the third category with double-digit ranking for Perth, at 88th place. This was based on the annual average private investment into property over the two-year period to the end of 2017 and the average number of nationalities investing. This is likely to increase in the 2018 results given the recent increased investment in WA. The ‘lifestyle’ category, ranked Perth in 142nd position. This was based on cities with the most top 100 universities, the number of five-star hotels and the highest average spend per overnight visitor. With strong future prospects, and several hotels under construction due by 2020, this will boost tourism opportunities for the city, and Perth’s global ranking in future years.
International Visitors
The balmy climate of Perth allows for a laid-back environment with locals soaking up the weather in the many cafés along vibrant shopping strips, down at the beach, bushwalking or riding bikes with the family amongst the native flora and fauna or relaxing in one of the local parklands. Most prominent is Kings Park adjoining the city skyline, with a high vantage point over the Swan River and Perth CBD. Watching unrivalled sunsets is very picturesque, being the only Australian capital city to enjoy the sun setting on the ocean.
Perth accommodates a vast array of restaurants, fashion brands, independent retailers, as well as, shopping malls. In the Perth CBD, Hay Street Mall and Murray Street Mall both comprise pedestrian-only shopping districts, while retail strips and arcades feature a diverse range of traders.
Traditional department stores like Myer and David Jones are also found here. King Street, Perth is known as the ‘start of West End’, famed for international luxury brands.Many cafés and bars can be found at the intersection with Murray Street.
One of the largest diamond mines in the world—the Argyle Diamond Mine—is located in the far north-east of Western Australia (WA), close to the border of the Northern Territory. The mine is the largest diamond producer in the world by volume, and is also the only known significant source of the elusive pink diamonds. Due to Perth’s proximity to the mine, diamonds are often discounted and abundant in local jewellers.
The number of international visitors to WA increased by 1.1%, to reach 967,000 visitors, in the year ending March 2018.
The most number of international tourists came from the United Kingdom (15%), Malaysia (11%), Singapore (11%), United States (9%) and New Zealand (7%) as shown in Figure 1.
Looking at WA’s top 10 international markets over this time, there was strong growth in the number of additional visitors from China (8.6% or equivalent to 4,600 additional visitors), India (12.0% or +3,100), Japan (9.9% or +2,500), and the U.S (3.1% or +2,500).