Figures from the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) have revealed that house, unit and land prices in regional WA all took a tumble over the quarter.
The median price for a house in regional WA fell by 3.4% to $370,000, while the median unit price moved down by 2.6% to $321,500 and land prices plummeted 7.4% to a median of $162,000.
While there was a fall over the quarter, REIWA deputy president Damian Collins said house prices in the state’s regional areas had been relatively steady over the last 12 months.
“The overall median house price for the year to September 2015 lifted a marginal 0.5%, or $2,000,” Collins said.
Along with the quarterly price falls, the state saw a drop in sales, with unit transactions falling significantly.
“Despite the year to September overall median house price lifting across the quarter, sales volumes did experience a decline across the September quarter, with house sales dropping 1.4 %, while unit sales fell 14.4%,” Collins said.
Those movements also had an impact on the rental market in regional areas, which unsurprisingly wasn’t a positive one.
“Regional WA’s median house rent for the September quarter was $375, which represented a drop of $5 over the quarter, while unit rent prices dropped $10 to sit at $330 per week for the three months to September,” Collins said.
“These declines in house and unit prices pushed regional WA’s overall median rent price down to $375 per week, which is $15 less than the June quarter.”
Looking at more specific locations, it was the areas south of Perth that performed the best over the quarter.
“The Peel region’s September 2015 annual median house price experienced a 2.4% lift to $410,000 across the quarter, while the Great Southern region and South West region lifted 1.4% to $360,000 and 1.2% to $410,000 respectively,” Collins said.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Pilbara region continued to be the state’s worst performer, with prices in Karratha and Port Hedland now having fallen by 27.5% and 10.6% respectively over the past 12 months.
