THE regions are getting some representation on the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia board, with Joe White (pictured) being the first regionally-based president.
Mr White joked he would have to buy a lot more "reasonable" office shirts after coming into the role, having spent a large portion of his life being a real estate agent in the Dunsborough area.
With his time as president, Mr White hopes to address the pressing housing crisis and said his job won't be done until everyone could confidently go home to a roof over their head.
"The reality is housing is the biggest domestic issue in Australia at the moment," Mr White said.
"We have a housing crisis, both in the metropolitan areas and in the regions, we simply don't have enough houses."
A recent Productivity Commission report suggested that the first home buyers grant was inefficient and instead that funding should be spent on homelessness benefit payments.
However, Mr White strongly disagrees with this report and said the government should try and keep the number of people relying on social housing to a minimum.
"Every person we can help into their own house, funded by themselves into ownership, is one person that is not going to be on the queue for social housing provided by the government," he said.
"The first thing you have to do to help the poor is not join them - that way, we're better able to focus on directing the dollars that we have got towards those who desperately need it.
"The bottom line is, if someone's peddling a policy that's contrary to producing more houses, I'd suggest that they're probably standing with a pretty dangerous place, because there's only one thing that's going to solve this housing crisis and that's build more homes."
Mr White also predicted the economy would remain strong, with a slower but persistent upward cycle.
The strength of the agricultural sector, combined with the mining sector, and the fact that Western Australia is averaging 8000 listings (compared to an equilibrium of 13,000) are all positive signs.
"I think the Western Australian economy is just too strong, the population growth too high and the housing stock too low," Mr White said.
"So at the end of the day, when you boil it down to supply and demand, I can see how there can be a crisis when so many people need a house to live in, there are not enough of them to go around."
Mr White also hopes to address housing versatility during his term, instead of building companies producing the stock four-bedroom, two-bathroom homes.
"What we have got to do is concentrate on not trying to put 25 to 30-year-olds in a 4x2 on the outskirts of town, when they're probably more inclined to want to buy a 2x1 around the action centres of the regions and around the cities," he said.
By having a diversity of housing, younger people aren't burdened by large mortgages for rooms they don't use or swimming pools in an apartment complex they don't swim in.
"Why are we burning them with huge mortgages when it's better off that they get equity and spend more time developing their careers and moving around rather than staying in the suburbs, when the State requires them to be more mobile?"
It was a no-brainer for Mr White to take the role and represent the countryside.
He said he felt that if he didn't, it may be another 100 years until another regional person had the opportunity.
"At the end of the day, anyone in the regions, we've got a better idea of what's going on in the city, than the city does with what's going on in the regions," Mr White said.
He said he was excited to bring a fresh regional perspective to the REIWA board, as he is a man with a large range of different life experiences.
"I'm delighted - hopefully, I can bring a slightly different texture to the coat," he said.
"It'd be nice to bring a bit of country to the city."
Growing up in the Pemberton and Manjimup area, Mr White went to school in Perth before being a trawler skipper in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
After completing a Bachelor of Business degree at university, Mr White moved back to Dunsborough and has run JMW Real Estate since 2006.
Mr White is proud to be from the regions, and said no amount of time in Perth could ever make him fit into an office environment naturally.
"I always will be rural - and that's just what I am," he said.
