Stable prices in Perth signal turning point for the market

Perth’s median house price stabilised in May, with reiwa.com data showing a small 0.3 per cent decline in price compared to April.

REIWA President Hayden Groves said the Perth median house price for May 2018 was $520,500, which was down from $522,000 in April 2018.

“This negligible adjustment in price over the month signals house prices are overall very stable, with the minor decline attributed to a small variance in the composition of sales between April and May.

“Importantly, when we compare house prices to three months ago (February), Perth’s median price is actually up 1.1 per cent,” Mr Groves said.

The latest reiwa.com figures are also supported by CoreLogic data, which shows Perth house values increased 0.1 per cent in May and were up 0.5 per cent compared to February.

“What we’re seeing in the Perth market is a slow and steady improvement, which is what REIWA forecast back in December. While we don’t expect rapid house price growth this year, we also don’t expect there will be substantial declines either,” Mr Groves said.

Prices in Perth’s unit market are also holding up well, with reiwa.com data showing the median unit price increased 0.8 per cent to $419,000 during May 2018.

“Similar to the median house price, when we compare Perth’s latest median unit price to three months ago, prices have increased more significantly by 2.9 per cent, which is very encouraging,” Mr Groves said.

“We are seeing similar trends in the house and unit medians, which is good news as it suggests one sector of the market is not recovering at the expense of the other.

“REIWA expects house and unit prices to remain fairly stable for the remainder of the year, however provided the WA economy remains on this path of recovery and consumer sentiment continues to build, we should start to see genuine improvements in price during 2019.”