Sales down ‘time to buy’

Bunbury was one of four regional centres to record a decline in sales activity this quarter, according to recent statistics.

Real Estate Industry WA statistics this week revealed Bunbury had a 9 per cent decrease in sales activity during the September quarter.

This quarter 182 properties were sold in total, compared to 201 sales in the June quarter.

The region has experienced a 19 per cent decrease in sales activity during the past 12 months.

Other regional centres to experience a decline were Esperance at 25 per cent, Albany at 21 per cent and Busselton at 20 per cent.

REIWA Bunbury branch president Drew Cary said although it was disappointing to see Bunbury and the South West perform poorly, he believed the region was on the cusp of an upturn.

“I would say hold on to your seats, it won’t be long before we’ll be going ‘we should have bought back then’,” he said.

“At the moment about a third of all home loan origination is coming from first homebuyers.

“The rental market is also getting tight, so there’s a lot of people jumping out of rentals who are buying a house.”

REIWA deputy president Lisa Joyce said although Albany and Bunbury’s median house prices were down for the quarter, sellers were pricing their houses in-line with market expectations.

“The average discount on original price and number of days to sell has improved, which suggests sellers are listening to the advice from their agents by pricing their properties in-line with market expectations,” Ms Joyce said.

Karratha recorded a whopping 85 per cent increase in sales activity during the September quarter, according to the REIWA statistics, the biggest increase out of all regional centres.

That was followed by Port Hedland with a 57 per cent increase, Broome with 41 per cent and Geraldton with 37 per cent.

Ms Joyce said mining regions had slightly picked up due to the announcement of more jobs.