Increasing WA listings cool the market

Increasing WA listings cool the market

Posted on Wednesday, April 02 2014 at 11:05 AM

Sale rates are down and rental vacancies are up according to the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia’s (REIWA) preliminary property results for the first quarter of 2014.

David
Airey, president of REIWA, says there’s been a steady
market decline in recent weeks as the number of properties for sale rose.

“There was little
change in overall sales turnover for the quarter, down by only two per cent,
however, it’s noteworthy that the March quarter was down by about six per cent
on the same period last year.”

The numbers show the
largest slide in sales occurred in the City of Vincent, southeast
parts of the City of Stirling and the cities of Gosnells and Melville.

“Even so, sales were
patchy across Perth with some areas such as Fremantle, Rockingham and northern
Joondalup experiencing a lift in sales.

“Overall listings,
however, continue to rise and are now at their highest level since December
2012.”

The most recent data
shows listing numbers have risen by 861 properties to 10,067.

This reflects 1600
more properties available for sale when compared to the same time last year.

“For several quarters
the number of listings hovered around 8,500 properties, but now seem to be
trending back to a more usual 12,000.”

Airey believes softer
first homebuyer activity has played a major role in the cooler results.

“The first homebuyer
slow down helps explain the rise in listings because, unlike trade-up buyers
who exchange one home for another, first home buyers remove stock from the
market.”

The REIWA data also reveals rental demand is easing
with the vacancy rate for the three months to February lifting to 4.1 per cent
– its highest level in four years.

“It’s now a tenants’ market with much more stock
available and median rent coming down a little.

It has dropped $15 per week in the last 9 months
and I anticipate a further fall in the median weekly rent to show up in the
data over the next few weeks.”

Perth currently has around 5000 rental
properties on the market, up by 56 per cent on the same time last year.

“The March quarter normally experiences a
tightening in the vacancy rate, but not so this year,” Airey says.

 

REIWA’s data shows Perth’s median house price was up marginally from $546,000 in the
December quarter to around $550,000 in March.

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