Which Perth Suburbs are Most Competitve

[Guest The Pom Queen]

Gosnells homeowners face the most competition when it comes to selling their properties.

The working class, south-eastern suburb had the greatest number of residential houses for sale than any other suburb in Perth, new data shows.

Figures compiled by CoreLogic show that Gosnells had 141 houses for sale in April.

Halls Head, near Mandurah, claimed second place with 128 listings, while the south-west coal mining town of Collie recorded 119 houses for sale.

Port Kennedy, near Rockingham, was close behind with 117 listings for the month, while Thornlie had 114 sales listings.

The south-west town of Australind, south-eastern mortgage belt suburb of Canning Vale, Mandurah suburb of Greenfields and far southern suburbs Warnbro and Baldivis rounded out the top ten.

Agent Nathan Frisina, from LJ Hooker Gosnells, says there has been a significant lack of buyers in the area for the past year, leading to an oversupply of housing stock.

“Generally, Gosnells has always been a first home buyer and investor market,” Frisina says.

“A lot of first home buyers have chosen to build rather than buy established (homes) over the past 12 months due to the first home buyers grant being removed for established properties.

“We’re also not seeing many investors in the market at the moment.”

Frisina says prices have dropped sharply in Gosnells making it one of the most affordable suburbs in Perth, but the lack of potential buyers showed prices were not low enough to attract sales.

“I had seven home opens on the weekend and I saw two prospective buyers come through – that’s how quiet it is,” he says.

“So it’s a reflection that prices still need to come down.”

Con Mathews, from O’Neil Real Estate Kelmscott, says a lot of investors in Gosnells are also looking to offload properties.

“Investors who bought properties a few years ago have now realised that the market is not doing a great deal and they’re trying to quit them. Some simply can’t afford them,” Mathews says.

Mathews says Gosnells has typically been a first and second-time home buyer market.

“There’s not a great deal of urgency for buyers, particularly first home buyers who can rent. It’s not like they’re being forced out of their rental because of high prices. There are a huge number of properties for rent. There’s no squeeze…they’re just sitting pretty and waiting.

“Prices have probably come back about 10% or 15% in the last year, year and a half – in some cases more. There’s a lot of people who bought two or three years ago and are now selling at losses, having to cover shortfalls on mortgages – that’s reasonably commonplace.

“The buyer pool is just so small at the moment and with the huge amount of stock, they’re taking a while to sell…to get them sold they need to be super competitively priced.

“It’s really difficult out there, but that represents some really good buying opportunities. Some of the prices are amazing at the moment,” he says.

Highest listings for houses – April 2017

1.     Gosnells – 141

2.     Halls Head – 128

3.     Collie – 119

4.     Port Kennedy – 117

5.     Thornlie – 114

6.     Australind – 106

7.     Canning Vale – 104

8.     Greenfields – 91

9.     Warnbro – 91

10.  Baldivis – 89

Source: CoreLogic, RP Data.