Moving often is not the trend in WA

When Jack and Edna Prosser moved into their newly built Floreat home there was bush across the road and no Floreat Forum nearby.

It was 1954 and they bought the block in an up-and-coming area called Lime Kilns Estate for �1000.

Six decades later, their Donegal Road property sits in a leafy green pocket of Perth's sought-after western suburbs and they have no plans to go anywhere.

They have renovated the house twice and brought up three children there.

"Back then, Churchlands had a dairy and the cows used to come round and tramp on our lawn," Mrs Prosser, 89, recalled. "Now we've got the park opposite us and we've never thought of moving."

Mr Prosser, 88, said most of their old neighbours had died so they were sort of like the "last Mohicans" in the area.

"You look outside and see all the trees, and out the other side there are more trees and the birds," Mr Prosser said.

"Where would you shift to that's got all that? We love it here."

Ten years ago the Prossers' long tenure would have gone against the grain, but new analysis by the Real Estate Institute of WA has found that WA residents are moving house less frequently.

The study of the period from 1990-91 to 2013-14 shows that, as dwelling stock in the State increased from 586,000 to 992,000, the average turnover time of that stock increased from 14 to 21 years.

During the 2005-06 financial year, at the height of the property boom, the turnover rate reached its peak of 11 years.

But five years later in 2010-11, the average turnover period had reached 25 years - a figure not seen since the recession in the early 1990s.

The turnover time climbed slightly slower in the metropolitan area, from 14 to 19 years over the period.

REIWA president David Airey said the research debunked the long-held perception that homeowners moved house, on average, every seven years.

Mr Airey said the trend changed in 2005-06 when the average turnover period was about 12 years.

"The seven-year myth is well and truly a myth," he said.

"It was propagated by a generalisation of Australian housing trends, rather than WA housing trends.

"There's no doubt that West Australians love staying put.

"They like staying in their own home and tend to buy for the long term."

Mr Airey said he expected the trend would result in fewer sales, particularly in more affluent and expensive areas where people typically set up a house for longer periods.