Perth property prices stabilise despite lower sales volume

The latest reiwa.com data has shown that Perth’s property prices have held in April despite sales volume dropping 40 per cent to 1,277 for the month.

Median sale price

REIWA President Damian Collins said pleasingly we have seen another increase to the CoreLogic Hedonic Home Value, which is up 0.2 per cent for the month, making it the sixth month in a row to see the value increase or stabilise.

“With the current median house price sitting at $477,000 it is positive to know that despite the current economic conditions, sellers are not being forced to sell and lower their sales price to do so,” Mr Collins said.

“Another positive for sellers this month is that it is quicker to sell a house now than it was a year ago with the median days to sell sitting at 65 compared to 77.”

Sales listings

From a property listings perspective, in April listings for sale decreased five per cent with over 11,670 properties for sale on reiwa.com.

“The full impacts of COVID-19 on the property market are not known at this stage, however with listings lowering five per cent, this demonstrates that there is not an influx of people who are trying to sell their homes due to being in financial distress,” Mr Collins said.

“The current initiatives by the Federal and State Government are helping to ensure that homeowners are not forced to sell their properties,”

Sales activity

Looking forward, the outlook of the property market is contingent upon a speedy economic recovery, and we anticipate sales activity picking back up.

“During the month we saw weekly sales transactions sitting at a low of less than 300 per week, with the exception of the last week which was over 430 transactions,” Mr Collins said.

“In order to keep this momentum going and ensure that economic conditions improve, the Western Australian Government may need to cut stamp duty and we ask the government to consider short term changes to help incentivise buyers, as well as long term tax reform removing stamp duty and replacing it with a broader based land tax system.”

Perth rental market

Perth’s rental market has remained relatively stable again this month despite the pandemic.

Median rent price

“This month we saw Perth’s median rent lower slightly to $350 per week, however if we break this down into units and houses, the unit median remained stable at $340 per week and the house median lowered only $5 to $375 per week.” Mr Collins said.

Listings for rent and leasing activity

Listings for rent were up four per cent in April with 5,624 listings for rent on reiwa.com.

“While we saw a slight increase in listings, overall this is not a significant change. This combined with leasing activity, which lowered 21 per cent for April, demonstrates with the current restrictions on movement, people are staying put in their homes,” Mr Collins said.

“Most tenants are meeting their rental obligations. It is important for those who are not struggling financially due to the impacts of coronavirus to still pay their rent.” 

More information

For a details breakdown of how the property market performed over the past week, view our Perth Market Snapshot graph.

Want to see how Perth performed in March? View Perth property market showed positive signs in March.