With all the recent budget announcements, global events, and the uncertainty around interest rates, there’s understandably been a lot of confusion about where the property market is heading.
Much of the national media focuses on Melbourne and Sydney, where we’ve certainly seen those markets come off the boil and tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes. Here in the City of Kalamunda, we’re still seeing buyers attending home opens and making enquiries. While demand has eased compared to the intensity of recent years, activity remains healthy.
In my opinion, what we’re seeing now is a return to a more normal market. It’s normal for a property to remain on the market for more than one home open. Those are all signs of a healthier, more balanced buying environment rather than a market driven purely by fear of missing out. It’s a much more ‘pleasant’ market to be part of.
Across Perth, listings have risen to more than 6,000 properties, compared with around 1,800 at the start of the year. While that’s a significant increase, it’s still well below historical levels. Between 2017 and 2019, Perth regularly had 15,000 to 19,000 properties on the market, with around 12,000 generally considered a balanced level of supply. This tells us that, despite more choice for buyers, stock remains relatively tight.
If current data is accurate, the underlying fundamentals continue to support the market. Ongoing population growth, limited land supply, and lengthy construction timeframes mean we’re still facing a housing shortage. In my view, that means prices are more likely to remain stable, with some areas experiencing modest growth and others perhaps seeing slight corrections, rather than any significant decline.
For anyone looking to upsize or downsize, I believe these are some of the best market conditions we’ve seen in years. Over the past four years, subject-to-sale offers were often rejected because sellers had plenty of cash and unconditional buyers to choose from. Today, those opportunities are returning.
Buyers now have more time to inspect properties, compare options, complete their due diligence, and negotiate with greater confidence. Sellers can still achieve excellent prices, but buyers are regaining some bargaining power, creating a fairer market for everyone.
Looking ahead, market conditions will largely depend on buyer confidence and housing supply. If listing numbers begin to fall again, competition could quickly increase. We saw something similar last year, when international uncertainty temporarily pushed listings higher before confidence returned and the second half of the year proved very strong.
No one has a crystal ball, and there are always factors we can’t predict. However, based on today’s fundamentals – strong housing demand, historically low supply, and active buyers – I believe the Perth property market remains well positioned. While we may not see the rapid price growth of recent years, I also don’t see the conditions that would typically lead to a significant downturn, particularly across the majority of homes in the City of Kalamunda.
