Perth Property Market Update – End of Financial Year 2017
Perth Property Market Update by Tim Whall | End of Financial Year 2017.
Although reports indicated the property market had been soft for the past 18 months we. As an agency, and for many of our owners, we had only really noticed the severity in the second half of 2016. Affecting both sales & leasing consecutively across both the facets of price reductions and in time on market.
Market Stabilisation & Confidence.
At the beginning of the year we were carrying 10 high quality listings, by mid March we had sold 8 with only two remaining on market. These ranged from inner city apartments through to large family residences in desirable suburbs, all were within 7km of the CBD, and in popular suburbs. They all featured tailored marketing campaigns and were well priced in today’s market.
Interestingly (for our properties listed in 2017) time on market ranged from 6 days to 9 weeks and previous listings still on the market from last year all sold in the first quarter of 2017. 90% were to owner occupiers. This is a very good sign that buyer confidence is returning to the market, buyers are out there and looking and prepared to buy if the ‘deal’ is genuine and in line with the current market conditions.
Nationally Perth is looking very affordable, in fact we have sold three properties the past two months to eastern state buyers. Interestingly the last data I reviewed showed SYD market was 60% investor ownership vs Perth at 16%. Perth’s ratio is very healthy and I am seeing signs pointing to a much more stable market for the next year or two. as well as news of a few key developers from interstate expressing genuine interest in looking to develop here in Perth Metro. This is very positive sign in my opinion.
In the investor market, I feel rental rates have now stabilised in the Perth property market the past few months. The first quarter of the year again was an excellent 3 months for our leasing team, allot less ‘harsh’ negotiations and tenants committing to properties with less haggle. Tenant satisfaction was up, renewals were up.
April was one of our quietest in 12 months, this looked to be seasonal. Following on from there we had a very busy May/June and have rented all our executive stock priced at (or over) $1000 per week, with multiple properties tenanted at this price point through relocation agencies and corporate enquiries.