The Metronet effect: How will Perth’s biggest public transport project impact house prices?

Houses near rail lines under construction on Perth’s urban fringe are tipped to increase in value as line extensions and new stations become operational under the state government’s ambitious Metronet project.

The $1.7 billion Ellenbrook line is expected to be operational later this year, with new stations at Morley, Noranda, Malaga, Whiteman Park and Ellenbrook.

The newly built Iluma Estate in Bennett Springs will have easier access to public transport. Credit: Ross Swanborough

REIWA chief executive Cath Hart said while adding a rail line to an area was no guarantee of price growth, it boosted the amenity, similar to when shopping centres and schools opened in new suburbs.

She said house-and-land packages in Perth’s booming north-east and south-east growth corridors had been a magnet for young homeowners, and increased amenity would likely fuel further interest and drive prices upwards.

“Newer suburbs in this region, such as Brabham and Dayton, will have seen interest increase with the more recent announcement and actual construction of the long-awaited train line,” she said.

“The completion of the line and opening of the stations is likely to increase interest in these areas as well, however demand for homes is already high.”

Hart said suburbs like Morley and Noranda were unlikely to see strong price growth as a direct result of the train line because they were already well-established, with shops, parks, schools and access to public transport and major transport routes.

“What you are likely to see over time is an increase in the values of homes near the station as future buyers seek out the convenience of being close to a station,” she said.

The rail extension to Byford along the Armadale line will service one of the fastest growing suburbs in the country, where the population has more than doubled from 7034 in 2011 to 20,600 last year.

Once the line is operational in 2025, it is predicted to take commuters 42 minutes to get to the city.

Resolve Property Solutions buyers’ agent Peter Gavalas said while there was some negative impact on the properties directly beside the new railway lines, they provided a broader benefit to the rest of the suburb and region.

“New infrastructure like train lines and stations are sought after by investors as it can really benefit suburbs with connectivity to the CBD and other areas, revitalise older areas with redevelopment opportunities and change in local structure plans,” he said.

“With the outer areas like Yanchep and Byford, travel times to the city will be drastically reduced in peak hour traffic and opens the option to live in these areas without having to drive for over an hour.”

Over the past year, median house values in Brabham increased by 7.6 per cent to $542,000, Dayton was up 9.4 per cent to $525,000 and Bennett Springs recorded a rise of 9.3 per cent to $590,000, below the 12 per cent rise recorded across the Perth metropolitan area.

Since the Forrestfield-Airport link opened 18 months ago, house values in High Wycombe have risen by 8 per cent to a median of $540,000, while Forrestfield has increased only marginally, up 4.6 per cent to $518,000. Byford recorded a rise of 15.2 per cent to hit a record median of $530,000.

Perhaps the most significant change visually and acoustically will be streets in the shadow of the sky rail which is being built around Victoria Park.

Level crossing removals are part of a major transformation along the Armadale Line, with 5.5 kilometres of elevated rail opening up six hectares of public open space.

Parc Developments founder Pete Adams said as a rule of thumb, any major government investment in transportation infrastructure led to an increase in property values in the area.

He said the removal of level crossings and introduction of elevated rail had been predominantly positive in the eastern states, resulting in safer, more efficient, and more accessible transportation infrastructure for communities.

“It also decouples train frequency from car traffic movements allowing for a higher frequency of trains which in turn equals a greater volume of passenger,” he said.

“One of the issues for the Perth to Fremantle line remains around the level crossings and the constricted frequency of trains running on the Claremont to Fremantle portion of that line.”

Strategic Property Group managing director Trent Fleskens said while some may argue that elevated rail and train stations posed negative acoustic impacts to properties next to the train line, he argued the most important impact was the benefit of free flowing-traffic through the removal of boom gates.

However, Adams said the response to increasing urban infill by establishing transport-orientated developments around train stations, including along the Forrestfield-Airport Link, had been underwhelming.

He blamed the lack of interest from developers and buyers on contradictory state policies that promoted urban sprawl on the false basis of affordability.

“It would be easy to just blame the current elevated construction costs of high and medium density developments,” he said.

“The market demand for medium density living in [transport-oriented developments] is lower in areas with urban sprawl, where there is still a cultural preference for detached single-family homes and a lack of awareness or interest in alternative urban living options.

“This ‘leaky sieve’ of density that we have established as the norm in Western Australia keeps the demand low and will continue to make TOD projects unviable around many of these new train stations for a long time to come.”

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