Perth property prices edge higher in January

via @The West.com.au

The new year has delivered a small boost to Perth’s beleaguered property owners with values lifting in the first month of 2017.

Figures from CoreLogic show dwelling values in the city improved by 0.2 per cent in January to be 2.1 per cent up over the past three months.

The increase was driven by units with values lifting by two per in the month. Over the quarter, unit values were only up by 1.5 per cent and down by 3.8 per cent over the past year.

House values were flat but thanks to a pre-Christmas improvement they were up by 2.2 per cent over the quarter.

Through the past 12 months, however, values were down by 3.2 per cent.

Nationally, values were up by 0.7 per cent led by a 1.8 per cent increase in Hobart house values.

House values in Sydney lifted by another 0.5 per cent to be 16.6 per cent up over the year while house values in Melbourne have improved by 12.9 per cent through the year.

CoreLogic head of research Tim Lawless said there were signs the bottom of the market had been reached in both Perth and Darwin where values have climbed by 1.8 per cent over the past three months.

“Buyers still have a great deal of leverage in these markets, with listing numbers remaining high, long selling times and high rates of discounting,” he said.

“However, in another indication that conditions may be moving through the bottom of the cycle, transaction volumes moved higher across both markets prior to the seasonal downturn in December and January, whilst the average selling time reduced from previously higher levels.

“With economic and demographic conditions remaining weak in these markets, a recovery in dwelling values is likely to be a slow process.”

Since January 2009 Perth is the worst performed property market in the country with values up by 8.1 per cent. In Sydney, values have jumped by 99.4 per cent while in Melbourne they have lifted by 85 per cent.