Perth house prices have surged more than 18 per cent in the past year, and even more in regional WA, according to revised property data by CoreLogic.

The property data company’s September Home Value Index shows a staggering 18.1 per cent increase in home values in Perth over the past year.

That is broken down to 18.5 per cent for houses and 15 per cent for units.

It means the median value of a home in Perth is now $524,589.

The increase is even bigger in regional WA, with a 19.9 per cent increase in dwelling values over the past 12 months.

Perth was not included in CoreLogic’s monthly data report after the company noticed problems with one of its data sources, which had significantly undervalued homes in the city.

“We have seen that fix in the index capture a lot more growth in the Perth housing market and certainly more reflective of what our other measures were showing and what we think is going on there,” CoreLogic’s head of research Eliza Owen told the ABC’s Close of Business program.

REIWA president Damian Collins said the revised CoreLogic figures were welcome news for home owners and sellers.

“The turnaround of the WA market has been remarkably fast considering the downturn only hit rock bottom last year,” Mr Collins said.

“We expect this recovery to continue throughout the remainder of 2021 and into 2022.”

Southern suburbs record biggest gains

REIWA figures showed 71 suburbs across Perth recorded housing price growth during September.

“The Perth market recovery is widespread and being felt across all price points and sub-markets,” Mr Collins said.

Cooloongup, within the City of Rockingham, was the suburb to record the biggest price growth in September, up 4.5 per cent to $320,000, followed by Bicton, up 4 per cent to $1.25 million, City Beach, up 3.4 per cent to $2.175 million, Spearwood, up 3.4 per cent to $500,000 and Harrisdale, up 2.8 per cent to $530,000.

Prices also increased solidly in Wanneroo, Forrestfield, Leda, Coolbellup and Quinns Rock.

National property prices surge

Nationally, the CoreLogic data showed home prices rose more than 20 per cent over the past year in the biggest annual boom since 1989.

However, CoreLogic noted signs that a little heat is starting to come out of the property market.

From a peak national monthly growth rate of 2.8 per cent in March, property prices rose 1.5 per cent last month.

Ms Owen said this was typical of the latter stages of a housing upswing.

“The growth rate has peaked, and it’s clear that now affordability constraints, or even just willingness to pay, is starting to slow those appreciation rates down,” she said.

Ms Owen said that first home buyers had been particularly affected as prices soared.

“First home buyer loans have actually fallen by over 20 per cent since the start of this year,” she said.

“When we get that rapid appreciation in housing markets, first home buyers tend to be more price-sensitive – they’re not able to keep up with the growth because they don’t have that asset to trade in.”

That has resulted in existing owners taking over as the main drivers of the property market.

“At the moment, the dominant participant in the market are the owner-occupier changeover buyers – in other words, people who are upsizing, downsizing, moving somewhere else,” Ms Owen said.

 

Sourced from ABC