South West regions dominate list of expensive housing prices in regional WA as Statewide prices climb

A new quarterly report for housing prices in regional WA by Domain has five South West areas in the top 10 for highest median prices. Though not in the regions, Fremantle tops the list with $1.35 million as median price, with Busselton second on $1.01m. Augusta-Margaret River came in third with $955,000, Capel fifth with $785,000, Dardanup eighth with $725,000, and Harvey ninth with $702,500. Collie leads the list for top price growth in the past year with a 29.7 per cent increase. Waroona (19.6 per cent) took sixth place, Bunbury (18.9 per cent) seventh and Harvey (15.1 per cent) tenth. This is the 14th consecutive quarter of growth and the longest run of quarterly gains since 2003-07. Despite the high growth in the past year, Collie, Waroona and Bunbury also made the list for the lowest median prices in regional WA. Collie took third place with $499,500, Waroona eighth with $610,000 and Bunbury ninth with $660,000. Domain senior economist Dr Joel Bowman said the double-digit increases seen across the South West were typical in regional WA. “I think some of the big factors driving prices higher include the lower interest rates that we saw last year,” he said. “They really helped boost people’s borrowing capacity, and that has helped fuel higher price growth last year. “We have also seen rising incomes which was a good thing but that has certainly helped support higher rents and hence higher prices.” Dr Bowman said the under-supply of houses also contributed to the increase in prices when mixed with low vacancy rates and high demand. “So if you are looking to buy a home in regional WA, it is really challenging for those new buyers as there is not a lot to choose from and the ones there are, it has very high demand already,” he said. Lifestyle and increase in affordability seekers have been two major factors driving the prices high in the South West. “In general, we have seen a lot of demand for particularly cheaper suburbs,” Dr Bowman said. “People are leaving the more expensive Perth market in the hunt for affordable regions. “Given that the size of the housing market is relatively small in these regional cities, that surge in demand quickly resulted in higher prices.” While the experts think the growth has relatively slowed this quarter, it still seemed to be unsustainable. “At Domain, we are forecasting the growth will remain moderate and a big factor is just the affordability constraints are becoming increasingly binding,” Dr Bowman said. “That should hopefully help constrain the pace of the growth.”