Perth units outpacing houses, but which property types are delivering the best returns

While houses traditionally deliver better capital growth for investors, the tables turned in 2025.

The median unit sale price rose 20.0 per cent to $600,000 over the year to 22 January 2026, while the median house price rose 13.3 per cent to $850,000.

This was generally driven by affordability, or a lack thereof.

With houses becoming less affordable, more buyers looked to the unit market. This increased competition for these types of properties and amplified the upward pressure on prices. Based on current conditions, REIWA is expecting a similar rate of growth in 2026.

Units also outperformed houses for rental yield. This is often the case, reflecting units’ lower sale prices, but the gap has widened in the past few years.

Five years ago, the difference between the yield for houses and units was relatively small, just 0.7 percentage points. However, the gap between the two has increased and is currently 1.3 percentage points. This is well above the long-term average of 0.5 percentage points difference.

The term ‘unit’ is quite broad, and the unit market can be broken down into four categories: apartments, home units, townhouses and villas. This month, we’ve looked at which unit types provided the strongest results for investors over 2025.

Capital growth

All unit types saw capital growth over the past year.

Home units recorded the most growth, with the median sale price rising 21.1 per cent to $545,000. Townhouses were the next best performer, with median sale price growth of 17.6 per cent.

From December 2020 to December 2025, villas recorded the most growth of any unit type, with the median sale price increasing 87.0 per cent.

Home units were the second best performer, with the median sale price rising 62.7 per cent. Long term, apartments recorded the lowest rate of price growth at just 34.0 per cent.

Rent price growth

All unit types saw an increase in their median weekly rent over the year. Home units and villas led the way, with median weekly rents rising 11.5 per cent to $580 and 8.9 per cent to $675 respectively. 

Since 2020, there has been strong rent price growth across all unit types. The median weekly rents for home units and villas have doubled.

Days on market

All unit types leased quickly, which reflects the overall strong demand for rental properties. Villas leased marginally faster than home units, townhouses and apartments.

Rental yield

When it comes to rental yield, villas and home units delivered the strongest results for investors in the year to December 2025 with yields of 5.7 per cent and 5.5 per cent respectively.

Yields for units as a whole, and all unit types, have declined slightly due to strong capital growth and slowing rent price growth.

Apartments saw the most improvement in yields over the past five years, which is a reflection of their lower rate of capital growth.

Rental yield

In summary, villas and home units stood out over the past year for investors, recording strong growth for both sale and rent prices, as well as delivering the strongest yields.

Unit property types defined

Apartment: Dwellings with no private grounds in a multi-storey complex and usually share a common entrance, foyer or stairwell. Apartment complex’s generally have lifts and common amenities such as a pool, gym or garden. 

Home unit: Single-level dwellings in a multi-residential setting where the complex is no more than two storeys.

Townhouse: Two/three-storey dwellings with their own private grounds. They are in a multi-residential setting and have no other dwelling above or below. They are either attached in some structural way to one or more dwellings or are separated from neighbouring dwellings by less than half a metre.

Villa: Single-level dwellings with their own private grounds. They are in a multi-residential complex and have no other dwellings above or below.