House hunters are out in force in Perth’s property market as the spring market rush looms – and the number of buyers is already outstripping sellers.

New data from Domain has found attendance numbers at open homes in the statistical area (SA4) of inner Perth have risen 30 per cent over four weeks. And in the Perth South West area, this figure increased 16.8 per cent.

Family homes that are in close proximity to the city and the beach are getting a lot of attention and most buyers we are meeting are families.

They’re looking for homes that have great living and entertaining spaces, along with enough yard to play in; they want to live in these homes for a long time.

We are seeing a lot fewer investors than we were seeing a few years ago.

Real Estate Institute of WA president Damian Collins said during the last five weeks the number of properties selling was greater than the new listings coming on to the market, with the total stock dropping to 8300.

He said good-quality stock on a nice suburban street would often garner multiple offers and up to 30 groups at a home open.

“It’s definitely a seller’s market,” he said. “I am expecting more stock in spring and buyers will come out of hibernation too.

“Based on want I am seeing … people are certainly getting big groups through home opens and I think there is a bit of a sense going around in Western Australia that we may get a COVID [lockdown] situation.

“So, I think people are speeding up their decisions a bit more quickly because we could be in lockdown for some period of time – but we hope not.”

Nicola Powell, Domain chief of research and economics, said the overall picture showed more check-ins at Perth home opens, which went hand-in-hand with the rising interest in the Perth property market.

“I think this is an interesting time as it’s the depth of winter [and[ we are about to embark on that spring selling season,” Dr Powell said. “The seasonal effects we tend to find over winter haven’t been as strong.

“The winter months provide unseasonable outcomes and by that I mean we have seen buyers remain active in the fact that we are seeing them track higher in some areas of Perth.”

 

Sourced from Domain