Building WA :Perth Median House Price

"Perth has experienced an overall slump of around $31,000 in the median price since the beginning of this year, and the June quarter shows that this slump is found right across the metropolitan area and also that the regions have gone backwards a little too.

"Good news from the June quarter however, is that first home buyers have been very active. Normally around 20 per cent of the market, they are taking advantage of stamp duty reform and falling house prices to jump back into the market. Indications are that they now constitute around 30 per cent of total buyers," Mr Druitt said.

There were around 9,200 properties sold during the June quarter, down by almost 11 per cent on March and down by a significant 31 per cent this time last year.

REIWA data for June show that Mandurah dropped by 7 per cent, Greater Bunbury by 7 per cent, Geraldton-Greenough by 9 per cent and Kalgoorlie by around 5 per cent. The overall regional median price dropped by around 8 per cent, to $350,000. Regional units however, were unchanged on a median $320,000.

There were 17,200 properties on the market in June (down 2 per cent on March), including 2,450 blocks of land.

"The sluggish market and large number of homes for sale has now seen the average number of selling days between listing a property and getting a firm offer, stretch out to 74 days. This is up 3 days on March and 9 days from June last year, so sellers must set the right price to meet the market and tackle the competition," Mr Druitt said.

The median price of land in metropolitan Perth remained stable during the June quarter holding at $250,000 per block, but had fallen by around 4 per cent on June last year. In contrast, regional land had dropped sharply by 21.1 per cent in June, to a new median of $145,000.

Mr Druitt said the large number of properties on the market punctured the myth of a housing shortage.

"In WA we have a situation of oversupply � not a problem with undersupply, and this is due to the strength of building activity between 2001 and 2007," he said.

Mr Druitt said the once tight vacancy rate for tenants had now returned to normal, with REIWA recording a comfortable 2.8 per cent vacancy rate, illustrating many new properties had flooded into the rental system as investor/owners now found it a difficult time to sell.

"For the first time in several years tenants should now find it much easier to find a suitable home. There is much more stock available and much more competition amongst owners to secure good tenants.

"However, rents increased by around 3 per cent in the June quarter, lifting by $10 per week for houses to a median of $350 per week, while units rose by $10 per week to a median of $320 per week," Mr Druitt said.

The general median for rents across Perth is now $340 per week.

"Given the large number of properties now being passed over into the rental system, it is reasonable to expect that rental price growth will ease in the latter part of the year.

"Landlords need to be mindful of the changing conditions and not to price themselves out of the market," Mr Druitt said. The oversupply of housing is not restricted to the Perth market with both Mandurah and Bunbury recording high stocks of listings along with healthy vacancy rates which have contributed to no movement in rents in these regions during June.

Perth Median House Price

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