Five years ago, Perth was sitting on approximately 14,000 homes (including land for sale) on the market.
Bring on 2020, a year of turbulence for the world, but an oasis of opportunity for the McGowan government.
Vacancy rates dropped to an all-time low of 1.2% (fewer properties available for renters). Coupled with multiple purchasing incentives – including a 50k equity for house & land packages – propelled the building industry forward. It was the exact remedy our market needed.
Over the Christmas & New Year period, buyer confidence & demand reached a respectable high increasing sales activity and reducing the number of properties on the market to approximately 8,000 properties.
What a time to be alive in the property industry.
But the question still remains, where will our property market go in 2021?
The best way to gauge this is to look at 3 variances that affect the market,
- Supply & demand – with our supply almost 5,000 options lower than it was 12 months ago, demand remains progressively strong which indicates a potential rise of prices, with some economists & pundits calling a 6 – 10% rise in property prices. Note that our Perth market is homogenous, which tells us that some suburbs will perform differently to another based on location, demographic & future infrastructure.
- Infrastructure & population growth – the new Metronet and Forrestfield Link that connects the Eastern Corridor to the airport & the city, the new ECU hub in the heart of the CBD, an AI Space Command centre right here in WA tells us that there will be an increase of jobs over the coming years. This perfect storm is exactly what investors are looking for and this makes our state a perfect haven post Covid-19, boosting property prices.
- Covid-19 Economic Relief – When JobKeeper, JobSeeker & the Mortgage Support ends at the end of Q1 of 2021 (slated for March 31st) there is a potential of more houses coming to the market, such as mortgagee possessions just as it did back in 2013 post mining boom. This may balance the supply and bring the demand to a stable position, anchoring our property prices as we move towards vaccinations & opening our borders. Based on this, Q2 of 2021 should bring us a clearer picture of the year ahead.
So until then, stay tuned to the how our government responds & continually supports the growth of the market. Here’s to a year of progress in 2021.
