Hot property: Perth suburbs 30 minutes from CBD tipped for investors
With larger blocks primed for subdivision, close to amenities, public transport and the airport – Perth’s eastern corridor retains “untapped” property potential, says a leading building broker.
While many investors are being lured to the northern fringes by the state government’s release of 6300 new lots in Eglington and Karnup, Better Way 2 Build investment specialist Mike King believes Perth’s east is where it’s at.
2024 was a strong year for sales in Perth.Credit: Getty Images
King has tipped Middle Swan, Stratton, Midvale, High Wycombe and Maida Vale as among the best to invest in 2025.
Driving healthy investment markers in the area was the potential for infill.
“In WA we don’t have a shortage of land, we have a shortage of developed land,” King said.
“The government is pushing for high-rise development and apartments, but it doesn’t make dollars and cents at the moment – the cost to build apartments, even if you’re given the land for free, you’re not making money on it.
“[Apartment] builders aren’t coming in and people want single homes.”
The surrounding suburbs of Midland, Hazelmere, Bellevue, Koongamia, Forrestfield, and further south in Kenwick, East Cannington and Thornlie all have similar development potential within a 30-minute drive from the CBD.
But with 65 Perth suburbs joining the million-dollar club in January and the Perth median house price surpassing $900,000, could a first home buyer tip the scales in their favour to crack into the market?
Buying as a single, King admitted, was almost impossible, with the solution lying with multi-buyers.
“People will go into a shared rental and sign up for a one or two-year lease with people they don’t know, but they won’t go into buying property with a brother or mate – that multi-generational or multi-friends aspect will have to come into it,” he said.
“An income of $55,000 would get you a standard entry-level house-and-land package in 2020 – now you need a $130,000 income as a single person.”
If you can’t buy what you want in the area you want, then there’s the idea of “rentvesting” – the strategy of buying an investment property and using the rental income to increase borrowing capacity.
According to the latest Real Estate Institute of WA data, there were 3028 homes on the market as of January 26 – more than 800 fewer than the same week last year.
In terms of new builds, figures released from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on January 22 revealed WA was hundreds of homes behind national building targets.
The dwelling completion data showed 5924 homes were built across the state in the September quarter – more than 500 behind its target for the first three months of the National Housing Accord timeframe, which aims for 1.2 million homes to be built by 2029.
This lack of housing coupled with the state’s population boom – driven by immigration – means the Perth market shows no signs of slowing down.
“COVID taught us Perth is one of the best places to live,” King said.
“More people want to be in Perth than wanted to be last year and I don’t see that changing in the next five years.”
Domain’s December quarter 2024 House Price Report found house prices in Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth all set record highs, with the Perth market surpassing a median $900,000 and on track to reach $1 million by the end of 2025.
Perth saw a nation-leading 19.1 per cent price growth surge in 2024, followed by Adelaide (14.6 per cent) and Brisbane (10.9 per cent).
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