Perth records biggest fall in house prices

SHANE WRIGHT ECONOMICS EDITOR, The West Australian January 31, 2012, 8:32 am

WA News © Perth records biggest fall in house prices

Perth house prices led the country down through December, falling 1.6 per cent through the last month of the year.

RP Data-Rismark reported today the median dwelling price fell to $450,000 at year's end, to be down 2.1 per cent through the quarter.

After showing some signs of improvement, Perth has now reclaimed its title as the capital city with the biggest fall in median price.

The median house price dropped by 1.2 per cent in the month to average $465,000 through the quarter. Through 2011, the median price for a house in the city dropped by 4.3 per cent.

Those with units have taken a bigger bath.

The median price dropped by 2.7 per cent in December to be down 3.5 per cent through the quarter.

Nationally, median dwelling prices in capital cities fell by 0.2 per cent, led by a 0.4 per cent rise in Sydney.

RP head of research Tim Lawless said the overall fall was the smallest quarterly drop through the year.

But Rismark managing director Ben Skilbeck said the figures had been affected by some one-off factors.

"The month of December is characterised by a significant lull in activity and the preliminary index results have likely been influenced by some more volatile Melbourne and Perth estimates," he said.

"We expect to get better clarity on the monthly movements as more information is reported."

Mr Skilbeck said housing affordability had dramatically improved over the past year.

Disposable household incomes were up by 5 per cent through the year to September, while dwelling values had fallen by 3.4 per cent.

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Con Dom12:20pm Tuesday 31st January 2012 WSTReport Abuse
How come we have had about 6 articles over the last 3 or 4 months with the gurus saying the property market was on the up again? It is also strange how the media seem to pander to all these so called real estate experts, may have something to do with the money they spend on advertising.
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attitude01:15pm Tuesday 31st January 2012 WSTReport Abuse
Good, lets get houses down to a realalistic price. Far too expensive for what they are. Price of land is the cause of it and everyone is cashing in on it. If everyone was on an executive salary would not be a proble, but they arent.
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black ops01:19pm Tuesday 31st January 2012 WSTReport Abuse
about time , hope this trend continues ......
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Peter01:20pm Tuesday 31st January 2012 WSTReport Abuse
Getting the real estate industry to tell us how the real estate market is going is just free advertising. There is no benefit to them telling us the market is weak and prices are going to fall. They wont sucker people into buying if they told the truth. Real estate agents and used car salesmen fall into the same bracket of l...s and c....s. Their industry bodies are not independant enough to provide the truth either.
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Ian01:27pm Tuesday 31st January 2012 WSTReport Abuse
Strange how when property prices go up so does rental prices but when they fall rental prices dont ??? Dont believe the media as alot of it is projected by the Real Estate Sector who get the media to push prices up.
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