Perth's median house price is poised to break through its 2007 peak soon, pushed higher by renewed activity from trade-up buyers towards the end of last year.
The Real Estate Institute of WA today said that new data is showing a continued swing away from first home buyer activity to upgrade buyers.
"Notwithstanding the first homebuyers purchasing homes at the cheaper end of the market, Perth's median house price has held up and is increasing due to renewed activity with trade-up buyers," REWIA deputy president David Airey said.
"REIWA data show that for the last six months it was sales of homes valued at between $500,000 and $600,000 which dominated the market, but for the December quarter alone we saw sales in the $600,000 to $750,000 range jump significantly from around 10 per cent in September to just over 14 per cent in December."
Mr Airey said that the renewed confidence among upgrade buyers had been brought about by an end to falling house prices, a resurgent local economy and despite interest rate rises.
"If we compare sales turnover between the December quarter of 2008 with the December quarter of 2009, we see that for homes valued at between $600,000 and $750,000, the turnover has jumped from 8 per cent of sales to 14 per cent," he said.
"For homes valued at between $750,000 and $1 million, sales have jumped from 6 per cent of turnover to almost 9 per cent in the same period, while premium property valued at between $1m and $2 million have increased from 4 per cent of sales to 6 per cent."
As Perth's property market stabilises and returns to a more normal pattern, the average number of selling days has fallen to 54 days, down by 10 days on the September quarter.
Mr Airey predicted that the shift in buyer activity would soon see Perth's median house price break though the peak of $475,000 reached in December 2007.
"We have recovered almost all the decline in the median price which was experienced in 2008," he said.
