Perth home prices rise 0.6 per cent

Perth house prices have increased last month despite CoreLogic data recording the first national decline in 20 months.

Recent data from CoreLogic found Perth house prices increased 0.6 per cent in May, compared to a decline of one per cent in Sydney and 0.7 per cent drop in Melbourne.

CoreLogic Home Value Index for May was the first record of a national fall since September 2020.

Perth's growth of 0.6 per cent outperformed the national rate of a 0.1 per cent decline, bringing Perth’s total growth for 2022 to date to 3.6 per cent.

The CoreLogic report also shows Perth's median house sale price was $555,538 in May, compared to $552,128 in April.

"Outside of Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, growth trends remained positive in May, albeit with less momentum in most markets," the report said.

"Perth and Adelaide were the exceptions, where the quarterly growth trend lifted in May, although both regions remain below the peak quarterly rate of growth."

"Although housing values continued to rise across the remaining capitals, the growth was not enough to offset the depreciation in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, which pushed the combined capitals index -0.3 per cent lower over the month."

CoreLogic's index results show Perth's quarterly change in dwelling values as 2.7 per cent and an annual growth of 5.6 per cent.

Real Estate Institute of WA president Damian Collins said market conditions during the first five months this year had been strong.

“May was another solid month of growth for the Perth property market, which is an encouraging sign that the recent increase to the cash rate has not stifled demand,” he said.

“Based on what we’ve seen so far this year, Perth is on track to achieve REIWA’s forecasted 10 per cent price growth by the end of the year.”

REIWA data shows North Perth had the biggest increase in median house sale price last month, up 4.5 per cent to $1.1 million.

Other suburbs experiencing the biggest growth are Wembley Downs, up 2.7 per cent to $1.31 million, Langford, up 2.6 per cent to $380,000, and Bedford, up 2.3 per cent to $750,000.

CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said the quarterly rate of growth in national dwelling values peaked in May last year, shortly after a peak in consumer sentiment and a trend towards higher fixed mortgage rates.

“Since then, housing has been getting more unaffordable, households have become increasingly sensitive to higher interest rates as debt levels increased, savings have reduced and lending conditions have tightened,” he said.

“Now we are also seeing high inflation and a higher cost of debt flowing through to less housing demand.

“It is important to remember housing market conditions have been weakening over the past year, at least at a macro level.”

However, REA Group's PropTrack HPI model had differing data than CoreLogic, showing that Perth had a monthly growth of 0.19 per cent in May and a 8.49 per cent increase annually.

"The Perth market continued to grow slowly in May, but has remained relatively subdued over the past year, with prices growing just over eight per cent," the report said.