Buyer blitz points to rising fortunes

Drawing more than 200 potential buyers last week and boding well for sellers in 2021, the first home open at 10 Amethyst Way, Carine had locals wondering if a celebrity was in town.

The property was online for just one day before the inspection and led Realmark Coastal Real Estate Agent Karen Riches to split the visitors into 83 groups in the interests of social distancing.

“It was the biggest home open I have ever had,” she said. “Usually a big home open in Carine would be 50 groups, so to have 83 groups show up was crazy, especially after a day of advertising,” she said.

“It was just insane.

“Everyone was commenting how busy it was.”

Three days later, the same home attracted 87 groups.

The home was a database listing, meaning there were no signs out front advertising that the home was open, which left neighbours bemused as to what all the fuss was about.

Ms Riches said the Carine property market had been seeing positive price growth recently.

“We have seen growth in the last four months in Carine of about $30,000 to $50,000 depending on the property and location,” she said. “By the look of it, it will probably continue that way.

“This time last year for home opens we just had our usual numbers.”

A prosperous start

The strong demand in Carine reflected wider buyer interest across Perth in the first full week of January.

According to REIWA figures, the period saw sales activity increase 201 per cent week-on-week, with the organisation’s members reporting 699 transactions.

Delving deeper, research revealed a 181 per cent rise in house sales, a 318 per cent rise in unit sales and a 211 per cent rise in vacant land sales over the week, while overall listed properties numbered 8263, revealing a 33 per cent drop from a year ago.

The declining listings tracked with December 2020 results, which REIWA President Damian Collins said pointed to an eventual increase in median price.

“Agents on the ground have reported that good, quality stock is being snapped up fairly quickly, and with listings for sale decreasing 16.5 per cent in December, it is only a matter of time before median prices start to increase,” he said.

Perth’s median house price remained stable at $480,000 in December, according to REIWA, which revealed 45 per cent of suburbs saw an increase during the month.

A bright future?

CoreLogic Executive Tim Lawless said the strong start to the year was due to an array of favourable conditions.

“Record low interest rates played a key role in supporting housing market activity, along with a spectacular rise in consumer confidence as COVID-19-related restrictions were lifted and forecasts for economic conditions turned out to be overly pessimistic,” he said.

Mr Lawless noted that despite the local market gathering pace, values remained 19.9 per cent below their 2014 peaks, though CoreLogic Head of Research Australia Eliza Owen said low mortgage rates might play a big part in upward pressure on prices through 2021.

“Overall, the housing market outlook for 2021 is positive, given highly accommodative monetary and fiscal policy, signs of an economic recovery and many first homebuyer incentives remaining in place through to early next year,” she said.