The figure that shows Perth’s home market is cooling from ‘white-hot to red-hot’

Perth’s white-hot property market is finally showing signs of cooling, with fresh data showing the median time for a home to be on market rising from 10 days to 15 over the three months to January.

However, regional WA bucked that trend, recording a decline in the median time spent on market from 29 days in September to 23 days in January.

Homes in Perth are taking longer to sell.Credit: Daniel Acker

CoreLogic’s monthly data pack revealed vendor discounting rates remained low but have increased, with sellers needing to negotiate a little more to secure a sale.

In Perth, vendors offered a median discount of -3.2 per cent over the three months to January, up from -2.6 per cent the previous year.

New listings in Perth are also up 7.7 per cent compared to the same time last year, the second highest in the nation behind Canberra.

CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen said the Perth market was showing signs of slowing down from a “white-hot market to a red-hot market”.

“Perth home values had a recent high of quarterly growth of 7.1 per cent in June of 2024, that slowed to just 1 per cent in the three months to January this year,” she said.

“And even looking at the suburb level, 18 per cent of suburbs actually saw a fall in homes values in the three months to January.

“So I think there has been a rapid change in the market since last spring, when more stock started to come on for sale, and that helped ease the market just a little bit for buyers.”

Strategic Property Group managing director Trent Fleskens said the Perth property market was entering a more balanced growth phase after two years of intense growth.

“The increase in median time on market from 10 to 15 days is still remarkably low by historical standards, reflecting the realities of demand vs supply that we have been living through since COVID,” he said.

“The increase in stock on market in the last quarter was inevitable given the impossible reality a market with just over 3000 available properties presented to our buyer pool.

“This increase has provided buyers a little more choice, which is also facilitating weekly transactions in WA to remain up at 960 just this week alone.”

But Fleskens warned the increase in supply was unlikely to significantly dampen price growth, given the strong underlying demand and the continued undersupply of housing.

“We still anticipate price growth in Perth, albeit at a more moderate rate of 10 per cent for the year,” he said.

REIWA chief executive Cath Hart said property prices were still rising, but at a slower pace than last year.

“We are seeing a softer market at the moment, which is fairly typical of festive season activity but also reflects the easing of FOMO seen in the latter part of 2024,” she said.

“Our members report buyers are being more discerning and are generally taking more time with their purchasing decisions.”

The suburbs that saw the most growth in January were Scarborough (up 2.7 per cent to $1,204,000), Dawesville (up 2.5 per cent to $717,500), Camillo (up 1.8 per cent to $580,000), Greenfields (up 1.7 per cent to $590,000) and Port Kennedy (up 1.5 per cent to $690,000).

Seville Grove, Nollamara, Swan View, Dayton and Joondalup were also among the top performers, recording growth of 1.2 per cent or more over the month.

Economist Kaytlin Ezzy said in WA, country towns’ home values had experienced stronger growth due to more capital city residents moving to the regions, along with a reduction in the number of people leaving the regions for the capitals.

“We’re almost five years on from the onset of COVID, and it appears that remote and hybrid working arrangements are here to stay,” she said.

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