AFTER a slight rise in November, Perth dwelling values remained stable in December, according to the latest CoreLogic home value index.
Perth recorded a 0.0 per cent growth rate for the month, but values declined slightly over the quarter, down 0.1 per cent, and were 6.8 per cent lower for the year.
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READ NOWReiwa president Damian Collins said the market held onto the gains seen in November and 64 per cent of suburbs with statistically significant activity experienced stable or increased median house price movement during December.
“In the latter end of 2019, reiwa.com data found that the luxury market continued to perform well across both sales and rentals, and we are now starting to see the flow on effects with suburbs in the lower end of the market also picking up,” he said.
Five of the 10 top performing suburbs for median sale price growth had a median below the Greater Perth median of $479,000.
“Applecross saw the largest growth of 3.2 per cent, which was closely followed by Rockingham (2.1 per cent), North Perth (1.5 per cent), Butler (1.4 per cent) and High Wycombe (1.3 per cent),” Mr Collins said.
“It is pleasing to see that the higher end of the market still continues to do well and the lower end begins to see improvements.
“Trade-up buyers are most active and currently account for 53 per cent of demand in line with earlier improvements seen at the higher end.
“That said, improvements at the lower end could attract first-home buyers and investor back into the market, which could change this”.
There were fewer properties for sale in December than November with listings declining 12 per cent.
The average time to sell a home decreased to 67 days.
In the Perth rental market the number of properties for rent continued to fall, down a further 7 per cent to 5616 and were 18 per cent lower than a year ago.
“This reduction in listings, combined with stable rent prices and healthy leasing volumes, has pushed the Perth vacancy rate to 2.3 per cent, the lowest level since February 2019,” Mr Collins said.
Perth’s overall median rent price remained at $350 per week.
Mr Collins said the first few months of the year were typically a busy time for leasing activity and if the rental market remained on its current upward trend, rent prices should increase during the year.