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Deja vu for Perth market in June quarter

Natalie HordovEastern Reporter

IT was a case of deja vu for the Perth property market in the June quarter.

Reiwa’s latest results read similarly to those of the March quarter with softer sales activity, small price movements in some areas and stability in others.

The median unit prices showed some growth, up 3.9 per cent to $385,000 over the three months, while the median house price stabilised.

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Deputy president Lisa Joyce said it was a good sign that prices held up over the quarter.

“Reiwa.com data indicates Perth’s median house price would settle at around $490,000, stabilising since the last quarter and the first time we have not seen a decline since the December 2018 quarter,” she said.

“What is also interesting are the suburbs that are showing the highest median growth in June 2019 vary across all price ranges.

“At the higher end, Hillarys and Wembley Downs saw an increase of 1.8 per cent and 0.7 per cent over the quarter, with a significant increase of 9.9 per cent and 4.8 per cent since June 2018.

“The middle end of the market performed the best with East Victoria Park showing the biggest growth of 4.4 per cent to $648,000, followed by Kardinya and Padbury at 0.8 and 0.5 per cent respectively.

“At the lower end of the market, Tapping and Meadow Springs showed a growth of 2.1 per cent to $480,000 and 1.4 per cent to $365,000.”

Sales activity There were 6649 sales recorded during the June quarter, down 23 per cent since the March quarter and 21 per cent lower than the same time last year.

Ms Joyce said it was not unexpected to see sales volumes decline at this time of year, with the onset of winter having likely contributed to subdued activity levels.

She expected this to pick up in spring.

The suburbs that recorded the most activity for the quarter were Baldivis, Thornlie, Ellenbrook, Dianella and Canning Vale.

East Victoria Park, Innaloo, Currambine, Ellenbrook and Wembley Downs recorded the biggest improvement in the number of sales.

Listings for sale There were 14,847 properties for sale on reiwa.com at the end of the June quarter.

“Stock levels across the metro area have declined by 13 per cent during the quarter and seven per cent since June 2018,” Ms Joyce said.

“While listings for sale have declined, we have also seen a 10 per cent increase in listings for rent.

“This suggests that sellers are moving towards renting their properties instead.”

Time to sell On average it took vendors 79 days to sell their property in the June quarter, while 58 per cent needed to offer a discount on their original asking price to achieve a sale.

This is a slight change from the figures published at the end of the March quarter when it took an average of 78 days to sell and 57 per cent of vendors accepted an average of discount of 7.3 per cent less than their asking price.

The average discount was 7.9 per cent in the June quarter.

Mr Joyce said it was worth noting that a significant portion (42 per cent) of Perth sellers achieved sale prices at or above their original asking price.

This did not mean rising prices, she said it suggested many vendors were heeding the advice of their real estate agent and pricing their properties in line with market expectations.

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