Few bright spots as house price woes linger

The Real Estate Institute of Western Australia’s latest data has confirmed the dire market for Perth’s homeowners, but Floreat, Karrinyup and Mindarie were among the handful of suburbs to record a positive median price shift.

The REIWA data for the September quarter revealed that Perth’s median house price is $480,000, which is a 1.5 per cent decline from the previous quarter and 4 per cent lower than the same period last year.

The unit median by September 30 was $379,000, which is a 1.6 per cent decrease from the June quarter and 6.4 per cent lower than a year ago.

However, five suburbs in Perth recorded a median house price uptick for the September quarter of at least 1 per cent.

Floreat and Wakiki’s median prices both rose 1 per cent to reach $1.35 million and $355,000, respectively.

Huntingdale’s increase by 2 per cent to sit at $385,000, while Karrinyup jumped 3 per cent to $809,000.

Mindarie was the biggest gainer, rising 4 per cent to $678,125.

Perth’s top selling suburbs for sales during the September quarter remained the same as the June quarter with Baldivis, Canning Vale, Morley, Dianella and Gosnells leading the top five.

REIWA president Damian Collins said it is currently a buyers’ market, but was optimistic about the future for sellers.

“While the worst of the market downturn appears to be behind us, the results of the September 2019 quarter reveal conditions are favourable for buyers and investors,” Mr Collins said.

Earlier this month, CoreLogic said the median price of a house in Perth recorded the largest fall over the past three months among Australian capitals, with a slump of 1.9 per cent.

This takes the decrease over the past five years to over 20 per cent.