The state's housing market has experienced its first sign of growth in over a year but the end of the first home buyer boost on June 30 has put a cloud over future prospects.
The state's housing market has experienced its first sign of growth in over a year but the end of the first home buyer boost on June 30 has put a cloud over future prospects.
Preliminary figures released today by the Real Estate Institute of WA show the median home value in Perth jumped by $8,000, or 2 per cent, to reach $427,000.
REIWA president Rob Druitt said it was encouraging to see the market bottoming out and showing some growth, however the next six months would be critical to see if this positive movement could be sustained.
"Clearly the first home buyer boost of $14,000 and $21,000 has had a strong impact on the market and has been great for sales. However, this scheme is set to end on 30 June, potentially dropping a core section of the market into a hole for a while," he said.
"We again call on the Federal Government to phase this grant out slowly after 30 June rather than cutting it off suddenly. We believe that would be a more responsible economic strategy under the circumstances."
First home buyers in the state accounted for 40 per cent of all market activity during the quarter.
The more affordable parts of Perth saw mixed results during the quarter with the Armadale-Serpentine median price dropping 2.6 per cent and Rockingham-Kwinana falling by 1.4 per cent.
However, Gosnells grew by 3 per cent while the north-west region of Wanneroo jumped by 3.6 per cent.
"The overall sales volume was up 40 per cent in the quarter, back to a level similar to September 2006, just as the housing boom was starting to subside," Mr Druitt said.
"Increased sales activity was experienced across the whole market, however the more affordable price band of $300,000 to $500,000 dominated turnover and provided 57 per cent of all sales."
In regional areas, Manduray saw little movement in its median price which is hovering around $380,000, however sales volumes are up by 30 per cent on the back of strong first home buyer activity.
In Bunbury, the median price rose 2 per cent to $335,000 while in Geraldton the median price jumped 4 per cent from the December quarter's $335,000 to $350,000.
In Kalgoorlie, the median price was up around 2 per cent to $326,000.
In the rental market, rents in Perth stabilised during the quarter while softer demand lowered the vacancy rate by 0.6 per cent to 3 per cent.
The median rent for units is $350 per week while for houses it is $370 per week.
In Mandurah the rental market was unchanged at $290 per week while the vacancy rate in Bunbury has tightened to 1.3 per cent, pushing rents up by 4 per cent to $290 per week.
In Geraldton, the rental vacancy rate is up to 3.2 per cent with the median rent growing 5.4 per cent to $295 per week while Kalgoorlie's overall median rent dropped 8.6 per cent to $320 per week.
