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No sign of slowing down

Tamra CarrThe West Australian
Stirling & Roe Real Estate Principal Jennifer Jones said there was  still a lot of buyer activity in the market for existing properties.
Camera IconStirling & Roe Real Estate Principal Jennifer Jones said there was still a lot of buyer activity in the market for existing properties. Credit: Fokusiert/Getty Images/iStockphoto

A spike in Perth land sales has not adversely affected the existing home market, with real estate agents reporting that house sales remain strong in the wake of COVID-19 and government homebuilding grants.

Between June 14-21, REIWA recorded more than 1000 sales transactions in greater Perth – numbers that haven’t been reached since June 2013.

The figure is almost double the average number of sales and included 613 dwellings and 412 vacant land transactions, the latter of which is the highest number of purchases logged since August 2009.

Madora Bay, Baldivis, Maddington, Wellard and Hammond Park were the top suburbs for land sales activity, which the industry body attributed to government homebuilding schemes making it cheaper to build a home.

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Despite the stronger interest in land, REIWA data also showed the established housing market was enjoying strong activity, with a seven per cent home transaction rise for the week ending June 21, which built upon a 26 per cent rise for the week ending June 14.

Stirling & Roe Real Estate Principal Jennifer Jones said the findings reflected her own observations of Perth property since COVID-19 shutdowns and the rollout of homebuilding grants.

“There is still a lot of buyer activity in the market for existing properties,” she said. “It’s very encouraging to see. Most of my listings are under offer and I have handled a lot of buyer enquiries.

“There was speculation that increased homebuilding would negatively affect the established market but at the moment that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

Ray White Whiteman & Associates Principal David Whiteman also said the homebuyer market had been very busy, largely due to supply and demand scales tipping favourably toward homeowners choosing to sell during the COVID-19 crisis.

“A lot of properties withdrew from sale due to the pandemic, so buyers have had less choice which has created a little bubble of activity and made the market really busy,” he said.

“Our recent sales results were the best they’ve been in the last 12 months and we’ve had blocks of land hit the market that have sold within days.

“It’s a really good time to sell and buy at the moment.”

As of June 21, there were 10,892 properties for sale in Perth, 2.1 per cent down from the previous week.

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