Perth house market bottoming out at six o'clock: Experts

The steep decline in Perth house price until mid-2011 slowed noticeably in the second half of the year, and property analysts are in agreement that the market is bottoming out and close to rebounding.

Century 21’s Charles Tarbey says supply and demand in the Perth residential market are starting to meet. 

“Although there has been a large median price drop, this is not reflected in activity.  There are still many cashed-up investors looking for properties,” he says.

Louis Christopher describes Perth as being “on the verge of a recovery”.

“The market has changed a lot. Stock has peaked, vacancy rates are tightening, and things are fairly positive,” he says.

Property valuer WBP believes Perth is already beginning to turn around due to the supply of houses falling and an increase in demand from first-home buyers.

Time: Six o'clock

“Investors are slowly returning to the market, and there has been a recent increase in the median rental price being achieved.

“Yields have continued to increase as prices fell in the December quarter,” says WBP.

Preliminary data from the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia’s February 2012 survey show the quarterly vacancy rate (for both houses and units) for the three months to February 2012 sits at 2.5%.

Population: 1.7 million

Median house price: $460,000

House price growth in February 2012: -1.8%

Annual house price growth to December 2011: -4.3%

Annual house price growth to July 2011: -7.1%

Rental yield: 4.2%

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