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ISCOVER
Staff Reporter
Buyers and vendors in Western Australia remain optimistic about prices despite widespread concern for the state's property market, new research has found.
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According to a survey by Harcourts WA, 67 per cent of respondents believe property prices will stay the same, while one third of all respondents actually expect property prices to increase over the next 12 months.
The survey was completed externally by respondents who had either bought or sold property through Harcourts over the past 12 months.
Andrew Moore, chief executive officer of Harcourts Western Australia, said the results were somewhat surprising.
“The survey results are slightly surprising given the challenges facing the state’s property market, but it is fantastic to see that there is still a good level of consumer confidence out there.
“I believe that this level of confidence will continue to grow over the coming months as interest rates remain stable and housing affordability improves somewhat,” said Mr Moore.
Late last week, CB Richard Ellis' Q3 Residential MarketView report found that while the longer-term growth prospects for WA are among the best in the nation, the property market is suffering from a segmented economy, where growth is patchy and confidence is limited to the mining industry.
“With buyer activity continuing to fall and reduced confidence in the market, there has been significant pressure on sales volumes,” CBRE manager global research and consulting Sam Reilly said.
“Although Western Australia remains well placed to experience strong levels of economic growth over the longer term, largely due to the expanding mining industry, a number of key areas such as tourism, viticulture and construction are under downward pressure and this is impacting on the strength of the overall residential market.”
