Australian Property News

WA prices close to previous peak

Posted on Thursday, December 17 2009 at 8:51 AM

West Australian property prices are headed back towards their December 2007 peak, according to Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) figures.

Although official median price figures for the December quarter won't be finalised until late January, the institute says median prices on its reiwa.com website are nearing the $475,000 peak figure.

REIWA president Alan Bourke says that represents a huge turnaround from this time last year, when the median house price had fallen to $420,000, which turned out to be the bottom of the market.

"It's really quite amazing what can happen in a year and to see how effective the Commonwealth's stimulus strategies have been," Bourke says.

He says reiwa.com data for October and November indicates that dwelling sales have maintained a similar level for the past eight months, despite fewer first homebuyers.

"First homebuyers have been replaced by trade-up buyers purchasing more expensive properties."

"Our reiwa.com data indicate that sales in the more expensive price ranges increased noticeably during October and November, with the $600,000 to $750,000 range showing the strongest rise, followed by the $750,000 to $1 million and the $1 million to $2 million range."

"By contrast, there was just a small increase in sales turnover in the more typical $450,000 to $500,000 range of homes."

The rental market in WA remains sluggish, with a vacancy rate of 4.6 per cent, down just marginally from 4.8 per cent in September.

"While there's a lot of rental stock on the market looking for tenants the overall median rent in Perth of $360 per week has remained steady at that level since December last year," Bourke says.