With listings in Perth falling below 4,000 homes, interstate investors are capitalising on the affordable real estate market, according to Raine & Horne.
Peter Vetten (pictured above), Raine & Horne Mandurah principal and licensee, noted the home shortage is worsened by many properties selling off-market.
“In the Perth metro region, there’s normally around 13,000 to 14,000 listings, and at the moment we’re under 4,000 listings. We’ve got a serious supply and demand situation that has contributed to Perth’s prices climbing by almost 17% over the last year,” he said in a news release.
“If you want to buy another property, you should sell and buy in that same market.”
Vetten reported that homes under $700,000 are selling exceptionally fast due to a “serious supply and demand situation.”
According to Vetten, eastern state investors are purchasing WA properties before they even hit the market.
“They’re essentially being sold prior to open houses; if the prices are reasonable and within the appropriate range, they’re selling rapidly,” he said.
Paul Curran, licensee/director at Raine & Horne Rockingham, said that around 60% of residential sales in the Rockingham area, southwest of Perth, are being purchased by interstate buyers, often without viewing the properties first.
“Generally interstate investors might represent 25-30% of our buyers,” Curran said. “If you have a budget of under $500,000 and are looking for a gross yield of 5%, it’s hard to ignore suburbs to the southwest of Perth such as those in the Rockingham LGA.”
The demand, he said, is fuelled by strong rental yields of 5%, coupled with an increase in buyer’s agents searching for Perth properties on behalf of their eastern states clients, resulting in many homes being sold quickly.
Perth’s rental vacancy rates stayed below 1%, keeping the market tight. Vetten reported that seeing up to 60 people at rental property openings is still common.
“Within three or four days, we get at least a dozen applications, and it's just a matter of cherry-picking through them,” he said.
In Bunbury, southeast of Perth, Susan Pitts from Raine & Horne said that average weekly rents are $550, with open homes attracting more than 40 groups.
“Meanwhile demand for property is similar, with 40 people at every sale open for inspection given the median house price in Bunbury is an affordable $500,000,” Pitts said.
She said that buyers are speeding up their plans to secure properties in Bunbury and along the coast.
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