In the June 2020 quarter all nine regional centres in WesternAustraliasaw a significant reduction in listings when compared to the previous quarter. Karratha was a standout, with listings for sale reducing by 36 per cent and only 34 properties for sale onreiwa.com.
REIWA President Damian Collins said listings have declined in Greater Perth and we are now starting to see this being reflected in regional Western Australia.
While Karratha saw the largest decrease when compared to the March 2020 quarter, Albany closely followed with a 29 per cent decline in listings with Kalgoorlie-Boulder down 28 per cent and Port Hedland with a 26 per cent decline, Mr Collins said.
From an annual perspective, listings have also reduced across all regional centres with Broome experiencing a 60 per cent decrease, KalgoorlieBoulder falling by 42 per cent and Albany by 41 per cent.
Sales activity
According to reiwa.com, three regional centres saw an increase in sales compared to the March 2020 quarter.
Usually when there is a decrease in listings, we also see a spike in sales however only three regional centres saw an increase including Karratha (up 72 per cent), Port Hedland (up 24 per cent) and Geraldton (up 15 per cent), Mr Collins said.
There could be a few reasons why we are seeing activity and listings reduce in other regions, including prospective sellers choosing not to sell their property during elevated levels of uncertainty around the impacts of COVID-19.
Median sale price
Karratha, Port Hedland and Geraldton all saw slight increases to their median house sale price during the quarter, with Albany and Bunbury remaining the same.
While it is pleasing to see that five regional centres either saw an increase in median sale price or remained the same, the areas that did decline did so only slightly, with Kalgoorlie-Boulder declining the most by 4.4 per cent, Mr Collins said.
Despite the uncertainty around what is expected to happen during the COVID-19 pandemic, the results we have seen during the June 2020 quarter when the outbreak was prominent in WA, are quite pleasing for all regional areas and should provide those people looking to buy or sell with confidence that the markets are holding up well.
June quarter regional data
| Regional centre | Listings for sale Three-month change | Listings for sale 12-month change | Median sale price | Three-month change | 12-month change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albany | -29% | -41% | $370,000 | 0.0% | -3.9% |
| Broome | -13% | -60% | $445,000 | -0.9% | -1.1% |
| Bunbury | -11% | -20% | $350,000 | 0.0% | 1.4% |
| Busselton | -22% | -17% | $495,000 | -0.4% | -2.0% |
| Esperance | -7% | -6% | $313,500 | -1.1% | -2.0% |
| Geraldton | -22% | -17% | $261,000 | 0.4% | -0.2% |
| Kalgoorlie-Boulder | -28% | -42% | $272,500 | -4.4% | -9.2% |
| Karratha | -36% | -6% | $430,000 | 2.4% | 23.7% |
| Port Hedland | -26% | -35% | $232,500 | 1.1% | 2.2% |
| Overall WA | -17% | -22% | $320,000 | 0.0% | 0.0% |
