Perth home values soar 18 per cent

Perth’s residential property values have soared by 18 per cent in the past year, in a major revision of CoreLogic’s data analysis for WA.

The Perth home value index accelerated to 18.1 per cent since 2020, after the data group’s September quarter figures reflected a close to doubling of its estimates for Perth.

Regional WA saw a 19.9 per cent uptick in home values in that time.  

CoreLogic revealed a divergence in its hedonic index, which looks at the value of all residential properties, in July which had undervalued the Perth home value index by 8.4 per cent.

This correction pushed Perth’s annual price growth from 10.8 per cent in July to 18.1 per cent in September.

A CoreLogic spokesperson said the group’s investigations found the hedonic index was underestimating the rate of capital growth in WA due to volatility in property attribute data.

CoreLogic temporarily withdrew its WA data for July while it underwent a revision.

“We have since implemented a fix, and today we released a revised back series for WA.

“The revisions have been applied to both the daily and monthly series for Perth and Regional WA. This has resulted in an uplift in the hedonic index for Perth and Regional WA.

Nationally, housing values rose 20.3 per cent in the last 12 months, driven by Sydney (23.6 per cent), Darwin (20.2 per cent), Canberra (24.4 per cent) and Hobart (26.8 per cent).

The monthly change in housing values is positive across all capital cities, with Perth at 0.3 per cent.

Real Estate Institute of WA president Damian Collins described the turnaround of the WA market as “remarkably fast”.

“We expect this recovery to continue throughout the remainder of 2021 and into 2022,” Mr Collins said.

CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said while growth in the residential market was softening nationally, he expected WA’s growth to slow at a lesser rate.

“I would expect housing values will continue rising across both Perth and regional WA in a similar trend we are seeing at the moment,” he said.

“I am expecting Perth to outperform Sydney and Melbourne over time as those markets are expected to slow more rapidly than WA.

“We don’t have as much economic diversity as other States, but mining and infrastructure are expected to remain strong enough for the WA economy to perform.”

Perth’s home values are still about 2.5 per cent below 2014 levels, despite the recent surge.

Mr Lawless said he does not expect the national housing market to trend downward until interest rates increase, which would not be for at least another 18 months.

REIWA data shows Perth’s median house sale price was $520,000 in September, with 71 suburbs recording price growth during the month.

“It’s very encouraging that so many suburbs experienced price growth in September. The Perth market recovery is widespread and being felt across all price points and sub-markets,” Mr Collins said.

Cooloongup recorded a 4.5 per cent spike in its median house sale price to $320,000, Bicton jumped four per cent to $1.25 million and City Beach lifted 3.4 per cent to $2.16 million.