Western Australia’s regional centres are in high demand, with eight of nine areas enjoying an increase in median sale price for the September 2020 quarter.
Karratha experienced the largest increase, of 8.1 per cent to a median price of $465,000, followed by Geraldton, with an increase of 3.4 per cent to $275,000.
This was followed by Kalgoorlie Boulder, which rose by 3.3 per cent to $285,000, Port Hedland by 2.2 per cent to $230,000 and Bunbury, which remained stable at $350,000.
In addition, six regional centres saw an increase in sales activity for the quarter.
“After experiencing a lull in the market in recent years, it is pleasing to see not only the median price improve, but also listings for sale and sales volumes increase across many areas of regional WA,” Real Estate Institute of Western Australia President Damian Collins said.
“The significant increase we are seeing in some of the mining regional centres is partly due to the commitments mining companies have made to keep workers in WA since COVID-19 restrictions were introduced.”
As with Perth, the vacancy rate for regional areas has shrunk.
“From a rental market perspective, listings for rent dropped across the board with all nine regional centres recording a reduction compared to the June 2020 quarter,” Mr Collins said.
“Bunbury and Geraldton experienced the highest decrease with a 53 per cent drop in rentals.
“There were two regional centres which reported less than 15 rental properties available at the end of the September quarter including Busselton which experienced a 50 per cent decrease in listings, with 14 rentals available and Esperance with only nine rentals available and a 44 per cent decrease in listings.
“With the changing WA economy and the population growth we are seeing, we will see continued upward pressure on sales and rental values in our regional centres in the coming months,” Mr Collins said.
