Real estate experts predict record $600,000 median house price for Perth
PERTH’S median house price is forecast to hit $600,000 by the end of the year, WA’s peak real estate body predicts.
It would give Perth the second-highest median house price for an Australian city – behind Sydney’s $655,000.
This week, Real Estate Institute of WA president David Airey raised his 2014 home price expectations from his previous estimate of $570,000.
“Perth had a strong year in 2013 with 9 per cent growth in the median residential price to $545,000,’’ Mr Airey said. “If property sales continue at the same rate or better, especially in the sub-$800,000 market, median prices will be pushed up.
“We are running out of properties under $400,000 and there is upward pressure as buyers trade up. It is quite conceivable that we will hit the $600,000 mark if sales activity continues.”
The new forecasts would mean the median house price in Perth was climbing by about $1200 a week.
The Barnett Government’s Midyear Financial Projections Statements show the median house price in Perth last year was up $41,000 over 2012. Mr Airey said the “doom and gloom merchants’’ who were predicting Australia was about to enter a property bubble did not understand WA.
He said WA continued to be a magnet for overseas buyers, who were keen to live or invest in Australia’s boom state.
Government projections show 750 people a week will move to Perth this financial year, more than 60 per cent of them from overseas.
“There has been a lot of commentary on whether Australia is about to enter – or is maybe already in – a property bubble,” Mr Airey said.
“I don’t think this is an accurate prediction and is generally made by overseas economists who have little or no on-the-ground experience at the coal face of the property market.
“Australia has a strong economy and a very strong banking and financing system.
“Just because property prices rise quickly doesn’t mean we are in a bubble.
“Overseas buyers are rushing here. That’s a big factor that pushes prices up as demand overwhelms supply.”