While the talk is currently all about the rental market, the Perth sales market continues to be a quiet achiever with house values increasing again in October.
Perth dwelling values grew 0.6 per cent to a median of $456,267 according to the latest data from CoreLogic, and were up 0.9 per cent over the past three months and unchanged from a year ago.

Regional WA also recorded an improvement in values for the month, up 0.2 per cent, but were 1.4 per cent lower over the quarter.
REIWA president Damian Collins said in late 2019, REIWA believed the new year would see increased market activity and despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the WA property market certainly had experienced this.

“When comparing October 2020 reiwa.com data to October 2019, sales volume has increased 2.7 per cent.” he said.

“Breaking it down, houses saw a seven per cent annual increase, units increased 20.4 per cent and land decreased 27.1 per cent.
“The decrease in land sales was lessened by the higher number of sales due to the HomeBuilder grant, which certainly picked up the overall annual number of sales, however it is still pleasing to see houses and units performing quite well.”

The suburb to see the biggest spike in sales activity growth in October was Yanchep with a 133 per cent increase — predominately due to the large number of land sales.
East Victoria Park followed with a 100 per cent increase, with Cloverdale (86 per cent), Hammond Park (67 per cent) and Aveley (63 per cent) rounding out the top five.
“Not only have stock levels decreased with 10,272 properties for sale on reiwa.com, which is 27.8 per cent less than this time last year, but the median days to sell has also lowered to 25 days — three days quicker than September and 22 days quicker than October 2019,” Mr Collins said.

On the national front, values were up 0.4 per cent over the month, but 0.1 per cent lower for the quarter.
Every capital city posted a rise, with the exception of Melbourne, however that market is showing signs of improvement since the announcement that private home inspections were again permitted.

Home Value IndexHead of research Tim Lawless said nationally, market activity was on the rise and likely to improve further with another interest rate cut potentially on the horizon as the RBA meets tomorrow.

“Record low mortgage rates are a key factor supporting housing market activity,” he said.
“Historically, reductions in interest rates have provided a positive flow-through to housing demand.
“If mortgage rates move to new record lows, we expect this will further incentivise home purchasing activity. “

• Perth vacancy rate near record low

“Both house and unit rents are up through the COVID period to date,” Tim Lawless said.

“The stronger rental conditions come after a long period of weakness in rental markets; dwelling rents in Perth have only increased by 0.4% over the past five years while Darwin rents are 11.4% lower than they were five years ago.
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“The latest rise in rents can be attributed to the recent history of low private sector investment which has kept rental supply levels low.”


Natalie Hordov
Western Suburbs Weekly
November 2, 2020 9:15AM
Western Suburbs WeeklyReal Estate

June reiwa.com data shows the strongest month for sales in Perth since 2015, with transactions increasing 55.1 per cent compared to May and 45 per cent higher than June 2019.  
REIWA President Damian Collins said it’s clear the recent Federal and State Government building bonus grants have boosted transactions last month.  
Perth sales market“reiwa.com data shows there were 3,990 sales transactions in June, with 2,519 of these dwellings (up 15 per cent) and 1,471 land sales (up 289 per cent),” Mr Collins said.  
“The large spike that we have seen in land transactions can be attributed to people fearing that they may miss out on these grants. There is a real possibility that we will run out of titled and completed blocks in the coming months.”  
The top suburbs to see an increase in transactions were Willetton, Thornlie, Girrawheen, Dudley Park and High Wycombe.   
Median sale pricereiwa.com data revealed the median house price remained unchanged for June, which is sitting at $475,000, however the median land sale price increased five per cent compared to this time last year and is now sitting at $250,000. 
“With listings for sale down nine per cent to only 10,310 and sales activity increasing, it is fast becoming a sellers’ market. While monthly changes in prices can be volatile, rising sales and dropping stock levels are usually a precursor to rising prices,” Mr Collins said. 
“During the initial COVID-19 period there was some downside price risk to Perth property prices, however it now appears that Perth prices will generally hold firm and could even possibly rise. This is of course dependent on the economy opening up and remaining open.” 
Perth rental market Listing stock in Perth’s rental market continued to plummet in June, declining a further 15 per cent to 3,963. 
“This reduction in listings means we can expect the vacancy rate to drop further from the current 2.2 per cent. In saying that, there are many agents on the ground who are reporting the vacancy rate for their agency sitting as low as one per cent,” Mr Collins said.  
“According to reiwa.com data, the suburbs that have seen the largest increase in leasing activity growth include Cloverdale, Rockingham, Mount Lawley, Beckenham and Subiaco.”  
Median rent pricePerth’s overall median rent price remained at $350 per week in June 2020. 
“While the ban on increasing rents is in place for established tenancies during the COVID-19 emergency period, agents are reporting some evidence of rising rents on newly leased property. Once we emerge from the emergency period, we may see median rental prices rise,” Mr Collins said. 

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