The Perth Property Show

On the Perth Property Show, Trent Fleskens and Brendon Ptolomey provide a WA regional market update based on HTW travel and valuation work across the state. Kalgoorlie remains strong with local and investor demand, resilient values despite new supply, and support from gold and lithium. Albany/Denmark are undersupplied, with short-stay returns and lifestyle migration keeping pressure on rentals and prices amid construction constraints. Dunsborough’s $2–$4m holiday segment is still healthy but less frenetic, driven by Perth wealth, with no signs of forced selling. Bunbury remains a value alternative to Perth, with typical prices around $500k in Withers and $600k–$700k in Carey Park. Geraldton is active off a low base, underpinned by tight rentals. Karratha shows urgency, strong rents and record sales amid iron ore strength, while Port Hedland has high turnover but minimal value growth. In Broome, demand favours smaller modern low-maintenance homes, and it’s noted as the shakier market.

Trent Fleskens and valuer Brendon Ptolomey discuss how recent global uncertainty and policy noise may be affecting Perth’s property market, balancing qualitative sentiment with key data. They note buyer caution and fewer offers per listing, but argue conditions remain strong given demand of roughly 800 sales a week, historically low listings under 4,000, and chronic undersupply driven by population growth and high immigration. They cover interest rates as “middle ground,” cost-of-living and construction inflation, and the risk of vendors holding unrealistic price expectations after rapid recent growth. Brendon suggests most owner-occupiers should stick to their plans if they can afford them, while warning against speculative buying, and concludes that supply constraints make negative price growth unlikely, though growth may moderate.

Host Trent Kins spotlights Mount Hawthorne and interviews Hamish Laidlaw, director at Acton Bell, about Perth’s post-Easter market conditions (stock in the 3,000s, median near $1m, days on market around nine) and the Cook government’s apartment finance underwriting policy. Laidlaw compares Melbourne’s auction-centric, four-week campaigns and unconditional buying culture with Perth’s FOMO-driven private treaty environment, explaining how auctions can condition sellers in softer markets but aren’t currently ideal in Perth. They discuss tactics for buying in Melbourne (including post-auction negotiation) and in Mount Hawthorne, where buyers split between entry-level character homes around $1.6–$1.7m and “forever homes” in the high $2m range, often funded by local equity. Laidlaw suggests stronger terms like removing finance clauses and offering rent-back options, and names Matlock (and The Boulevard) as his favorite streets.

In this episode, Trent Fleskens interviews West Perth apartment specialist Richard Self, who says the market has stayed fast, with West Perth’s median unit price rising from about $580,000 in Oct 2024 to $714,000, and typical two-bedroom apartments now starting around $700,000. Buyer demand is broad—downsizers, investors, tenants turning buyers, and first home buyers (often with parental help and the 5% deposit scheme)—but first home buyers are increasingly priced out, worsened by the $500,000 stamp duty threshold. Self cites extreme competition (120+ groups and 18 offers) and record sales, minimal valuation or finance issues, about 30% cash-type buyers, and expects future amenity from the Princess Margaret Hospital precinct to support West Perth.

Trent Fleskens interviews Craig Hyne from Country Values about property and land trends in Gingin (population just over 800) and nearby towns like Bindoon, Guilderton and Lancelin. Craig outlines Gingin’s farming and horticulture roots, limited housing construction for decades, and the impact of the new Brookview Estate (107 residential lots plus a commercial area) near the town centre. Blocks that once sold for $100–$120k rose from about $149k in late 2023 to around $225k by the final stage, while the 12‑month median house price is about $630k, up from roughly $450k pre‑COVID, with scarce listings and examples of sharp resale gains. Buyers include metro downsizers, FIFO workers and investors, with growing in-migration and demand for further land supply; Craig also notes strong uptake in South Lancelin, with many eastern states investors.