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Apologies for the tardiness of this column, but the negative gearing debate was a more pressing matter! March quarter numbers for 2016 from our Real Estate Institute reveal house sale numbers continued to slide throughout the Perth area with the amount of homes changing hands 34 per cent below that experienced in the same quarter a year ago.

Median house prices drifted back to, with Perth’s median house price for the quarter sliding by 3.7 per cent to sit at $520,000. The median price for apartments was stable at $435,000. The composition of the market activity moved firmly into the lower priced brackets with 45 per cent of property transactions for the quarter selling for less than $430,000 – prime first home buyer territory and reversal of the December quarter activity. Only 9 per cent of transactions were for property priced over $1,000,000.

Fremantle’s median house price fell by 1.9 per cent for the quarter across all suburbs. Postcode 6160 itself rose by 2 per cent for the quarter. South Fremantle shone brightly topping the list across the metropolitan area with a spectacular 4.8 per cent growth for the quarter leaving its median house price 13.2 per cent higher over the past twelve months at $1,075,000. All remaining greater Fremantle suburbs fell for the quarter and the year.

Fremantle’s 213 apartment sales over the past twelve months revealed an improvement in median price of 7.2 per cent suggesting the gentrification of Fremantle’s apartment market continues with a median price now at $638,000. East Fremantle apartments returned a yearly median of $650,000, down 8.3 per cent for the quarter but remaining 10.5 per cent higher on last year.

Seller sentiment in and around Fremantle has held over the past twelve months with a 3.7 per cent gap between listing price and selling price; a 2.2 per cent improvement on twelve months’ ago. 42.3 per cent of all sellers need to discount from their original list price to sell up from 35.1 per cent twelve months earlier. Local stock levels are up 14.7 per cent from last year comparing unfavourably to the metropolitan area. It takes an average of 69 days to sell in and around Fremantle up eleven days on last quarter’s numbers.

The residential rental market continues to be pressured but locally, we saw a 28 per cent improvement in the volume of properties leased in the quarter compared to the three months prior to Christmas. The overall median rent in Fremantle is $450 per week, 9.5 per cent lower than last year and on average it takes 41 days to find a tenant for a Fremantle property, a remarkable 27 days longer than just a year ago.

Overall, the stats suggest sales volumes will remain low and with supply plentiful, 2016 is a good year to move up through the property market and upgrade.

by Hayden Groves
REIWA President
REIA Deputy President