01 September 2020
In August, reiwa.com data shows it took a median of 21 days to lease a
property in Greater Perth which is 13 days less than the same time last year –
making it the quickest time to lease since the construction phase of the last
mining boom in February 2015.
Perth rental market
REIWA President Damian Collins said strong demand in
the rental market continued into August which recorded improvements to the
median rent price, listings volumes and days to lease.
“From an individual suburb level, Maddington was the
fastest suburb to lease in August, taking a median of seven days to lease,
which was closely followed by Armadale with nine days, Coolbellup and Wanneroo
with 10 days, and Secret Harbour with 11 days,” Mr Collins said.
Median rent
“The median rent has remained stable at $360, however houses increased
$10 per week to $380 and with Perth’s vacancy rate sitting at 1.6 per cent, we
can expect to see continued upward pressure on rents in the coming months.”
A closer look at the data shows four out of five Perth
suburbs experienced an improved or stabilised median rent price, with Perth,
Ellenbrook, Hamilton Hill, Bentley and Scarborough the top five performers.
Rental listings and activity
“The high demand for rentals has seen rental stock on
reiwa.com fall 10 per cent on July, with 3,205 properties for rent on reiwa.com
at the end of August and based on present levels of enquiry we expect stock
levels to decline further in September”, Mr Collins said.
Investors in the market
“Feedback from our members on the ground is that there is still only a
limited number of investors in the market looking to buy investment property.
“It’s important that we return confidence to investors and one way the State
Government can lead is to significantly reduce the number of properties subject
to the residential tenancies COVID-19 legislation. Unless we get investors confident
enough to get into the market, the rental shortage will only get worse.”
Perth residential sales market
CoreLogic’s latest home value index shows dwelling
values in Perth stabilised in August.
Median sale price
Mr Collins said although overall prices had remained
stable in the Perth region, reiwa.com data shows 45 per cent of suburbs
experienced an increase in median sale price.
“Kelmscott saw the biggest increase to its median in
August with a 5.4 per cent increase to $320,000, which was followed by Riverton
(up 3.9 per cent), Duncraig (up 3.7 per cent), Piara Waters (up 3.6 per cent),
and Carramar (up 3.4 per cent),” Mr Collins said.
“Interestingly, three of the top five suburbs had a median sale price
under Perth’s median of $475,000 and suggests people are taking advantage of
properties in Perth that are priced at the lower end.”
Sales listings
Listings for sale were also down in August with only
10,627 properties for sale on reiwa.com, which is 1.2 per cent lower than July
and 23.2 per cent lower than this time last year.
Sales activity
“In the last few months, sales activity has been
particularly strong due to the various government bonus schemes, so it is only
natural as the interest around the stimulus eased, we saw activity in August decrease
compared to July,” Mr Collins said.
“The suburbs that saw the biggest improvement in sales
were Stirling, Shenton Park, Fremantle, Bayswater and Iluka.
“It certainly appears that Greater Perth, and in fact
a large part of Western Australia, has escaped the COVID-19 induced property
slowdown. Given the high levels of demand and limited supply, we may even see
prices rise later in 2020.”
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 the Perth market performed in July? View Perth sales activity increased 68 per cent from COVID-19 low.