New listings at record lows

Home listings fell to a record low of 3,648 at the end of December as the state's housing shortage continues to worsen.

The number of houses for sale has fallen from close to 5,000 in November, continuing a pattern of declining availability of homes throughout 2023.

The Real Estate Institute of Western Australia’s latest data shows December home listings were 49 per cent down since the same time last year.

The data shows that the houses are selling after an average 10 days on the market, nine days faster than a year ago.

REIWA chief executive Cath Hart said the listings numbers were a combination of high demand and the tendency for people to hold off listing properties for sale at this time of year.

“It’s the perfect storm,” she said.

“We have incredibly high demand, with houses selling in near-record times, plus at this time of year the number of new properties coming to the market slows. People are busy with the festive season and go away and put their plans to sell on hold.”

Perth’s house prices increased at the fastest rate in the nation in 2023, with recent data from CoreLogic showing a $660,754 median value, a 15.2 per cent uptick on 2022.

REIWA’s data indicates the sale price of homes in Perth has increased to $590,000 in December, up 8.3 per cent on a year ago.

Ms Hart said that, given the lack of supply, this trend was likely to continue.

“WA’s growing population is fuelling demand for rentals as well as established homes,” she said.

“When you have limited supply and high demand, price rises are the outcome.”

However, the availability of rental properties has improved since last year, with 1,518 homes listed for rent on REIWA’s website at the end of December.

This was a 21 per cent decrease on the previous month, but is 5 per cent higher than December 2022.

Ms Hart said this was a promising sign that supply was easing in that market.

“It is a positive sign that they were higher than this time last year, and we hope to see the upward trend continue,” she said.

Business News reported late last year that there has been a surge of east coast investment in WA residential property, which could account for the increase in rental availabilities.