Buyers should not be put off by the median price for a region or suburb, and look to the lower quartile for opportunities in areas they might initially think are out of their price range based on the overall median.
With housing affordability well and truly on the national agenda, it’s important not to use the median price as the sole guide for ingoing costs to the WA market. The median was the middle point in the market and that half of all sales were under it.
While the median house price in metropolitan Perth is now around $547,000, this still means that 50 per cent of purchases are under this price, it doesn’t mean you need at least $547,000 to enter the market. It’s also important to recognise that first home buyers, in particular, usually purchase homes well under the median price, with Office of State Revenue data for May showing the median point for entry-level buyers being $450,000 in Perth and $366,000 in the regions.
Even the median purchase price for first home buyers means that half of all entry-level buyers are paying under these city and country median prices for their demographic. It was more useful for first home buyers to look at the ‘lower quartile’, or bottom 25 per cent, of the more affordable homes in an area to get a better perspective of what was available at more accessible prices. reiwa.com data for the year to March shows that the South-east sub-region of Perth through Gosnells, Armadale and Serpentine-Jarrahdale had the most affordable lower quartile with houses selling at $370,000. Apartments and land were most affordable in the South-west sub-region through Cockburn, Kwinana and Rockingham.
Even within the various sub-regions around Perth there were individual suburbs which were under the lower quartile for their local area. For example, the central sub-region has a lower quartile of $550,000, but it’s possible to find houses in Balga priced at around $385,000. Similarly, while the median price for units in the South-west sub-region is $277,000, you can find them in Orelia at around $196,000.
Buyers should not be put off by the median price for a region or suburb, and look to the lower quartile for opportunities in areas they might initially think are out of their price range based on the overall median.
Most affordable suburbs within each sub-region
Year to March 2015 - lower quartiles
Central sub-region Houses: Balga $385,000 Units/apartments/villas: Osborne Park $265,000
North-west sub-region Houses: Merriwa $358,000 Units/apartments/villas: Currambine $310,000
North-east sub-region Houses: Koongamia $320,000 Units/apartments/villas: Lockridge $292,000
South-east sub-region Houses: Camillo $280,000 Units/apartments/villas: Armadale $249,000
South–west sub-region Houses: Medina $258,000 Units/apartments/villas: Orelia $196,000