Perth for sales listings dropped to a 10 year low in February, with just 7,899 properties listed on reiwa.com at the end of the month.

REIWA President Damian Collins said this was the seventh consecutive month listings for sale had declined in Perth.

“We’ve seen an extraordinary decline in listing volumes in a relatively short amount of time. In the span of a year, listings have dropped 36.5 per cent to now sit below 8,000 for the first time in about a decade. Buyers are very active in the market and soaking up stock at a rapid pace,” Mr Collins said.

Home value index and median sale price

CoreLogic data shows Perth’s home value index lifted 1.5 per cent in February.

“This is on top of the 1.6 per cent increase in January and represents the sixth month in a row we’ve seen the index continue to climb,” Mr Collins said.

reiwa.com data shows the median sale price in Perth in February was $490,000.

“There were 50 Perth suburbs that saw their median sale price increase in February,” Mr Collins said.

“The suburbs with the biggest increase were East Fremantle (up 5.7 per cent), South Yunderup (up 5.2 per cent), Seville Grove (up three per cent), Cloverdale (up 2.7 per cent) and Ballajura (up 2.5 per cent)."

Other suburbs to record median sale price growth were Wellard, Landsdale, Warnbro, Gosnells and Bayswater.

Median selling days

reiwa.com data shows the median time to sell a property was 21 days in February.

“This is on par with January, but 25 days quicker than it was in February 2020. The last time we saw houses sell this fast was 2006,” Mr Collins said.

“It’s a hot market and buyers are understandably feeling pressure to make a swift decision. While it’s important to act fast on a property you’re interested in, I encourage buyers to use caution and not panic buy or get themselves into a situation where they pay over and above what the property is worth.

“Yes, property prices have increased in the last six months, but they remain below what they were five years ago so there are still good deals to be had.”

Perth rental market

There were 2,839 properties for rent in Perth at the end of February, according to reiwa.com data.

"This marks the sixth consecutive month we’ve seen listings sit below 3,000. Perth desperately needs an influx of rental stock in the market to provide renters with more housing options,” Mr Collins said.

Perth’s median rent price held at the five year high of $400 per week in February, which is on par with January and $40 more per week than February 2020.

“reiwa.com data shows 258 Perth suburbs saw an increase in rent during February. The suburbs with the biggest increase in median rent were Subiaco (up $23 to $723), Scarborough (up $20 to $520), Ellenbrook (up $10 to $370), Belmont (up $10 to $380) and Greenwood (up $10 to $410),” Mr Collins said.

Leasing activity and median leasing days

There were 186 Perth suburbs that recorded an increase in leasing activity during the month.

“Beeliar saw the biggest increase in leasing, with activity up 29 per cent in February compared to January. Other suburbs to perform well were Innaloo (up 22 per cent), Greenwood (up 14 per cent), Gosnells (up nine per cent), Rivervale (up eight per cent) and Canning Vale (up four per cent).

It took a median of 19 days for a lessor to find a tenant for their property in February.

“Median leasing days are the lowest they have been since June 2013. Like we are seeing in the sales market, with so few available listings, tenants are having to act very quickly to secure a rental,” Mr Collins said.

“Perth is in desperate need of more rental stock to help ease the rental shortage. In order to do this, we need to entice investors back to the market.

“While the end of the rental moratorium later this month will remove one of the barriers for investors, more needs to be done to encourage residential property investment in WA and ensure there are enough rentals in the market to keep up with tenant demand.”

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