WA regions outperform Perth
Country areas of Western Australia recorded stronger March quarter results than the city, but mining areas continue to suffer, the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) reports.
In Perth, the market moved very little in the last quarter, according to REIWA president David Airey.
“While the median house price has been bouncing around recently due to the composition of sales, our real-time reiwa.com data indicates a modest 0.7 per cent growth for the quarter, lifting Perth’s median house price by $4,000 to around $553,000,” he said.
“Units and apartments performed a little weaker at around minus one per cent, pulling the median price for multi-residential stock back to $445,000."
The REIWA data also shows sales volumes were down by six per cent compared to March last year, though largely unchanged since December.
In particular, Mr Airey said the top and bottom end of the market seemed to be cooling off, while the middle remained solid.
Figures suggested houses in the $400,000 and $800,000 range made up 66 per cent of the sales market.
On the other hand, regional Western Australia reported an upswing in price growth and sales volumes.
The median house price for the regions lifted to $393,000, an increase of 3.4 per cent.
Units and apartments lifted by the same margin to a median of $330,000.
“Mandurah was the strongest regional performer, with turnover up by a solid 25 per cent and the median price lifting by around seven per cent to reach $425,000,” Mr Airey said.
Busselton saw prices rise by five per cent and a 30 per cent lift in turnover, while sales in Bunbury lifted by around 20 per cent.
However, Mr Airey said mining areas like Kalgoorlie, Karratha and Port Hedland remained flat or declined in median price.
He attributed this trend to low sales numbers, meaning median prices were affected by the composition of sales each month.