One of Western Australia’s top valuers is claiming that now the mining boom as passed in and around the city of Perth, that its falling house prices indicate that it may be a good time for investors to consider adding to their portfolio in the region.
“I think there’s less risk of buying into Perth today than buying into the Sydney market,” says Gavin Hegney, of Hegney Property Group. “If you are buying in Sydney, you are buying into an emotive boom. In Perth, it’s a classic case of confidence being below fundamentals.”
According to the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia, the median house price in Perth was AU$545,000 at the end of June, AU$5,000 down from the March quarter.
A recent report by forecaster BIS Shrapnel predicted Perth prices would fall in the next two financial years, then stabilise in 2017-18, as demand in property there diminished with the slowdown in overseas migration.
Hegney believes the downside risk is limited, saying: “I’d suggest that whatever fall that’s going to happen in Perth in the next 12 months, the fall will be larger in Sydney. At some stage in the next 12 months it will be the perfect buying market in Perth.”
