Rental squeeze, upgrading locals and employee housing drive climbing Albany house prizes in March quarter

Continued strong demand led to median house prices climbing by 2.6 per cent in Albany during the March quarter, the highest growth of any WA regional centre in the first quarter of the year. Preliminary data released by the Real Estate Institute of WA last week showed the median house price grew from $455,000 at the end of December to $467,000 within the first three months of the year. It means that prices have increased by 9.9 per cent over the past year. REIWA Great Southern branch chair Rob Mason said there was a wide range of buyers in the market at the moment. He said “quite a lot” of locals were upgrading “especially in the mid to high end of the market”, that the rental squeeze was pushing others to buy, and that Government agencies and businesses had been “very active” looking for staff accommodation. REIWA data shows that there were 123 sales settled in the March quarter, while 148 were completed in the December quarter and in the 2022 March quarter there were 194 sales. Mr Mason said buyers were being more selective than a year ago. “Where we were seeing everything getting carried along in the wave, now there is a bit of a split,” he said. “Properties that are poorly presented or overpriced are receiving almost no interest at all, while new listings that present well and are priced at market level are seeing strong interest from the outset” He said it was not out of the ordinary for “well presented” listings to be only up for a matter of days before receiving multiple offers and there was “plenty” of listing over the last 30 months which had seen big groups show interest in viewing properties. “(It is the) same as the last boom in 2006/2007 where we were seeing up to 60 groups through a hot new listing in the first week and having the potential to write a heap of offers,” he said. Demand in the rental market has also driven the weekly median rent in Albany up by 15.4 per cent to $450 during the March quarter, an increase of 12.5 per cent over the past year. Mr Mason said given the continued issue of rental supply it was “hard to see any relief any time soon” for renters. “Most supply comes from private investors, and if they are not encouraged to purchase investment property, or even hold the ones they currently own, supply will remain an issue,” he said. “Both the Federal and, particularly, the State budgets do provide additional funding for social housing and not-for-profit organisations are working hard to address the problem also – particularly in Albany. “Turning housing supply around is slow, so there is never a quick fix.”