Albany market on the rise

Aussie executive chairman John Symond, who opened a new store in Albany last week, has confidence the city’s property market will experience a healthy future.

Mr Symond, widely known for shaking up the Australian home loan market in the 1990s, forcing big banks to lower their interest rates, travelled to WA last week to open the newest Aussie home loans store on Tuesday.

He said Albany would experience strong growth in the next three to five years.

“Albany, like other parts of WA and Perth, has come off a very soft period,” he said.

“I’m confident WA has lifted off the bottom and we will see Albany grow.”

According to the Real Estate Institute of WA, Albany experienced 3.6 per cent growth in the year to September, with a median house price of $373,000.

At the same time last year, Albany experienced a 1.4 per cent growth rate, with a median house price of $360,000.

It was the third-highest region for growth, behind Busselton on 5.9 per cent and Mandurah/Murray with 3.8 per cent growth.

Mr Symond said Perth had had a 5 per cent to 6 per cent increase and he expected the regions to follow suit.

“We’re not expecting things to go gangbusters overnight, but we need to look forward to a three, five or 10-year future,” he said.

“I think that Albany, like the rest of Australia, will enjoy the lowest interest rates Australia has seen.”

REIWA Great Southern president Barry Panizza said he also believed the future of Albany’s property market was bright.

“We’ve had a slight growth in the past 12 months,” he said.

“I expect to see slow, steady growth.

“Our growth will depend on the success of our hinterland farmers.”

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