Disclaimer: This information is intended to be of a general nature. Please do not rely on any of the content as being a professional tax or legal opinion and seek your own independent advice.

Whilst not all of the numbers are in yet, June 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 35 per cent below that experienced in the same quarter a year ago. Land sales have fallen a staggering 64 per cent in twelve months.

Median house prices drifted back too, with Perth’s median house price for the quarter sliding by 1.9 per cent to sit at $520,000. The median price for apartments was harder hit falling 7 per cent at $405,500. The composition of the market activity saw most of the action occurring in lower priced brackets with 54 per cent of property transactions for the quarter selling for less than $550,000 – demonstrating first home buyers remain active. Only 9 per cent of transactions were for property priced over $1,000,000.

Fremantle’s median house price retreated 2.6 per cent for the quarter across all suburbs. Postcode 6160 itself was flat for the quarter. North Fremantle bounced back topping the local list with 2.3 per cent growth for the quarter leaving its median house price 5 per cent lower over the past twelve months at $997,500. South Fremantle is the only local suburb to show positive yearly growth at 6.7 per cent.

Fremantle’s 195 apartment sales over the past twelve months revealed an improvement in median price of 6.6 per cent putting it in third spot in the metro area, suggesting the gentrification of Fremantle’s apartment market continues with a median price now at $650,000. East Fremantle apartments returned a yearly median of $600,000, down a moderate 2.4 per cent for the year.

Seller sentiment in and around Fremantle has held over the past twelve months with a 4 per cent gap between listing price and selling price; a 1.1 per cent improvement on twelve months’ ago. 46 per cent of all sellers need to discount from their original list price to sell up from 41.7 per cent twelve months earlier. Local stock levels have fallen sharply by a surprising 20.7 per cent from last year and it takes an average of 70 days to sell in and around Fremantle, 17 days longer than a year ago.

The rental market continues to be pressured but locally, we saw a 24 per cent improvement in the volume of properties leased compared to last year. The overall median rent in Fremantle is $435 per week, 14.7 per cent lower than last year and on average it takes 46 days to find a Fremantle tenant, 18 days longer than just a year ago with 44 per cent more properties listed for rent than last year.

Overall, the stats suggest sales volumes will remain low, prices are stable and tenants are spoilt for choice. Thank goodness for low interest rates.

By Hayden Groves
REIWA President
REIWA Deputy President