Considering a Career in Strata is Paying Off
The latest strata statistics reflect the economical and political state of mind about medium and high density living in the state and the future role this industry will play when other industry sectors vacate the Queensland market.
The latest reports on closures of important brands located in Brisbane leaves us wondering where all these workers will find a new prosperous professional future. Not all of them are able to change location or able to change their career but unemployment is not an option, so new opportunities need to be found.
Considering the strata industry in Queensland has just reached the milestone of 400,000 lots across the state, the answer may be that the property sector is the dominating industry in the future. An industry that will attract talent and be seen as a career opportunity. Recent reports have shown that 43.3 per cent of all new home approvals are now in medium density, up from 32.3 per cent just a year ago. Almost 5000 medium density homes were approved in 2013 that led to a noteworthy growth of 2.9 per cent from March 2013 in the amount of strata schemes in Queensland. Shortly, there will be 43,000 schemes with half of those located at the Gold Coast and in Brisbane. The good news is – this trend will continue with major events like the G20 Summit and the Commonwealth Games drawing attention to our beautiful state and adding to the strata titles landscape.
The growth rates are encouraging enough for people to look at the property sector and seriously consider it as a future career. Body corporate management is not a new industry but growing to be a major factor in people’s lives as they move into strata buildings. A career in strata has mostly been on the job training in the past until the industry developed qualifications that relate closely to the day-to-day work. With SCA as the major driver behind industry qualifications we are now at a stage where the fine tuning of qualifications will meet industry standards better than ever before. In the next 12 months there will be a new certificate IV in strata as well as diploma level strata certification available. In fact, it will be a major requirement for strata managers to obtain qualifications to be recognised as an accredited or certified member of SCA.
We are proud to have developed a proper accreditation pathway that ties in with the industry qualifications. In Queensland we are commencing the accreditation program in July, providing a transparent system of credentials that the public can easily check and be assured of the professionalism of the manager they are working with. The accreditation pathway is our endorsement of strata managers as we know they have relevant qualifications and continue their education. As the peak industry body this is expected of us and while it has been our mission to advocate for licensing or registration in Queensland, the pathway is the closest we will be able to get to in this political climate.
Just recently we have had the pleasure to meet with the acting commissioner for body corporate Ingrid Rosemann to discuss the Commissioner’s Office’s view on our organisation. Not surprisingly, we are seen as the body to monitor the professionalism of the sector and we are trusted to help educate everyone involved. This role is taken seriously by the board of SCA (Qld) which is reflected in our commitment to education and professionalism and I am pleased to see the interest from our membership is great. For us there is only the way forward and we are excited that our reputation with the stakeholders in the industry is growing and we can get together under one umbrella and change the strata sector to cater for the people that live in the schemes.
Simon Barnard
SCA Queensland
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