The latest reiwa.com data hasshown that Perths property prices have held in April despite sales volumedropping 40 per cent to 1,277 for the month.
Median sale price
REIWA President DamianCollins said pleasingly we have seen another increase to the CoreLogic Hedonic³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Value, which is up 0.2 per cent for the month, making it the sixth monthin a row to see the value increase or stabilise.
With the current medianhouse price sitting at $477,000 it is positive to know that despite the currenteconomic conditions, sellers are not being forced to sell and lower their salesprice to do so, Mr Collins said.
Another positive for sellersthis month is that it is quicker to sell a house now than it was a year agowith the median days to sell sitting at 65 compared to 77.
Sales listings
From a property listingsperspective, in April listings for sale decreased five per cent with over11,670 properties for sale on reiwa.com.
The full impacts of COVID-19on the property market are not known at this stage, however with listingslowering five per cent, this demonstrates that there is not an influx of peoplewho are trying to sell their homes due to being in financial distress, MrCollins said.
The current initiatives bythe Federal and State Government are helping to ensure that homeowners are notforced to sell their properties,
Sales activity
Looking forward, the outlookof the property market is contingent upon a speedy economic recovery, and weanticipate sales activity picking back up.
During the month we sawweekly sales transactions sitting at a low of less than 300 per week, with theexception of the last week which was over 430 transactions, Mr Collins said.
In order to keep thismomentum going and ensure that economic conditions improve, the WesternAustralian Government may need to cut stamp duty and we ask the government toconsider short term changes to help incentivise buyers, as well as long termtax reform removing stamp duty and replacing it with a broader based land tax system.
Perth rental market
Perthsrental market has remained relatively stable again this month despite thepandemic.
Median rent price
Thismonth we saw Perths median rent lower slightly to $350 per week, however if webreak this down into units and houses, the unit median remained stable at $340per week and the house median lowered only $5 to $375 per week. Mr Collinssaid.
Listings for rent and leasing activity
Listingsfor rent were up four per cent in April with 5,624 listings for rent on reiwa.com.
Whilewe saw a slight increase in listings, overall this is not a significant change.This combined with leasing activity, which lowered 21 per cent for April,demonstrates with the current restrictions on movement, people are staying put intheir homes, Mr Collins said.
Mosttenants are meeting their rental obligations. It is important for those who arenot struggling financially due to the impacts of coronavirus to still pay theirrent.
