Median house sale prices may have dropped in WA during the first quarter of 2017 but a Perth-based charity said rental prices remained too high for some of the state’s most vulnerable.
A report by the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia said Perth property prices had dropped in the last quarter to $505,000, while the bulk of sales were between $400,000 and $450,000.
REIWA president Hayden Groves said the drops indicated WA was becoming a more affordable place to live.
“Home ownership is becoming increasingly difficult in some parts of Australia, but this isn’t the case in Perth,” he said.
14,845 houses were put on the market in the first three months of 2017 and average sale time was about 70 days.
Median house prices in Cannington had dropped from $472,000 in 2015 to $429,000 in 2016.
However, despite home prices seeming to have dropped, Anglicare WA said rental prices were still too high for people on low or fixed incomes.
The Anglicare report said people on pensions, allowances or the minimum wage were unable to afford the majority of rentals which have gone onto the market in 2017.
Anglicare chief executive Ian Carter said Perth’s median rent was about $350 a week and for many that was too high.
“Spending more than 30 per cent of your disposable income on rent means you struggle with other costs of living,” he said.
“While the Perth rental market has seen prices fall over the last two years, that doesn’t mean it’s suitable or affordable for just anyone.
“A single person with a nine-year-old child and living on Newsstart Allowance would have found just one property in Perth that was affordable during April.”
