Property market update: Regional Western Australia, September 2021

“Geraldton’s median house sale price increased 6.2 per cent to $345,000, which was the strongest performance for price growth of any regional centre during the September quarter,” Mr Collins said.

Regional centres Broome and Port Hedland performed well, too, with median house sale prices rising 5.4 per cent to $579,500 and 5.1 per cent to $379,000, respectively.

REIWA reported that all nine regional centres experienced price growth over the past 12 months.

“Price growth across regional Western Australia is strong and even outperformed the Perth region for annual growth in the year to September 2021,” Mr Collins said.

Developments in the local economy have contributed to catapulting Port Hedland as a top regional performer over the last 12 months, with the median house sale price rising 54.7 per cent.

“A number of factors have contributed to the strong growth in Port Hedland over the last year, such as the desire of mining companies to have a more localised workforce and the implementation of the Western Australian government’s Voluntary Buy-Back Scheme in the West End, which gave residents the option to sell their property for a government-guaranteed market price,” explained Mr Collins.

Geraldton (up 25.5 per cent), Broome (up 22.2 per cent), and Esperance (up 17.4 per cent) were also among the regional centres with strong annual price growth.

Kalgoorlie-Boulder had the lowest price growth among the centres, with a median house price of $325,000, recording value gains of just 12.8 per cent over the past 12 months. While it didn’t make any gains over the last quarter, it had not lost any value either over the three-month period, recording 0 per cent growth.

Listing volumes and median selling days

During the September 2021 quarter, listing volumes increased in four regional centres, while it decreased in two areas.

Karratha experienced the greatest increase (17 per cent), followed by Geraldton (15 per cent), Port Hedland (7 per cent), and Broome (6 per cent).

The greatest drop in listing volumes was recorded in Busselton, with stock levels falling 20 per cent and Albany (17 per cent).

A competitive market saw the median time to sell a property decrease in five regional centres.

Esperance saw the greatest decrease, with its median selling time dropping from 49 days to 25 days. Busselton was the fastest-selling regional centre, with the shortest median selling time of any regional centre at 14 days.

“Declining stock levels have caused increased competition amongst buyers in Esperance, resulting in the median time to sell reducing by more than three weeks in just one quarter. If you’re a home owner in Esperance thinking of selling, now would be a good time to act,” Mr Collins commended.

REIWA predicts this growth to be sustained until 2022, according to Mr Collins: “REIWA anticipates regional Western Australia’s current growth cycle will continue through the remainder of 2021 and into 2022. Low stock levels are the driving force behind this growth, resulting in strong buyer demand, which has put upwards pressure on house prices.”