Perth continues to be the most affordable capital city for detached houses in Australia.

According to the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA), Perth has the lowest median house sale price among all capital cities and the gap is substantial.

Houses in Perth have a median price of $525,000 by the end of 2021. Adelaide had the second lowest median price at $600,000.

Meanwhile, median house prices across capital cities are $711,000 in Brisbane, $775,000 in Hobart, $950,000 in Canberra, $1.125m in Melbourne and $1.6m in Sydney.

REIWA president Damian Collins said the gap between Perth and the rest of other state capitals highlights the affordability of the city in terms of detached houses.

“You could buy three properties at Perth’s median house sale price for the cost of just one median priced house in Sydney,” he said.

Units in Perth on the other hand have the third cheapest unit price.

However, the difference between Perth and the two more affordable unit markets is lower. The median unit price in Perth is $415,000, slightly higher than the $412,500 in Adelaide and $400,000 in Darwin.

The median unit prices of the other capital cities are $443,900 in Brisbane, $573,000 in Hobart, $576,500 in Canberra, $692,000 in Melbourne, and $802,255 in Sydney.

“It’s clear when observing median prices around the country how fortunate we are - while many people on the east coast are priced out of the residential sales market, that is not the case in Western Australia,” Mr Collins said.

“We are very lucky that home ownership is still an achievable dream for many West Australians.”

Slow start for Perth sales in April

Separate figures from REIWA showed that sales activity declined in Perth over the past week.

The capital city recorded declines of 10% for houses, 9% for units, and 28% for land sales over the week.

Interestingly, the number of properties for sale also declined - at the end of last week, there were only 7,790 properties for sale in Perth, which was 2% lower than the preceding week.

The number of properties for sale in Perth was 6% lower than the levels seen during the same period last year.

Meanwhile, there were only 2,365 rental listings over the past week, representing a 12% annual decline.

Photo by @nathan_hurst on Unsplash