Port Hedland, Busselton score biggest price gains among WA regional markets

Busselton and Port Hedland outperformed their other regional peers in Western Australia over the first three months of the year.

A report from the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) showed Busselton achieving a 5.5% growth in median house sale price to $580,000 on a quarterly basis.

REIWA deputy president Joe White said growth was apparent across Western Australia’s regional markets during the first quarter of the year, particularly for Busselton regional centre.

“The impressive price growth recorded in the Busselton regional centre during the quarter can largely be attributed to a shortage of available housing in the region,” he said.

During the period, house listings fell by more than 21% in the Busselton regional centre on a monthly basis and by 42% over the past year.

“With less stock available, this has turned the heat up amongst buyers, forcing them to be more competitive when putting an offer on a property and pushing up the regional centre’s median price,” Mr White said.

The demand for houses in Busselton regional centre came from people living in Perth and in other states.

The high level of demand in the region could potentially get a further boost from the opening of direct flights from Melbourne to the Busselton Margaret River Airport.

On an annual basis, Port Hedland recorded the biggest jump in the median house price.

Port Hedland was the top performer over the year with a 40.6% gain in median price to $457,000.

Mr White said one of the key drivers of growth in Port Hedland was the Pilbara’s thriving community, especially given the shift in the mindset of mining companies towards favouring a more localised workforce.

Another significant contributor was the success of the Voluntary Buy-Back Scheme in Port Hedland’s West End that the WA Government agreed to back in June 2020.

“The scheme gives eligible residential property owners the opportunity to sell their property for a government-guaranteed premium market price,” Mr White said.

“With more than 100 properties sold through the Voluntary Buy-Back Scheme in 2021 alone, this has had, and will continue to have, an impact on median house price growth in the Port Hedland regional centre.”

Mr White said the performance of regional centres during the period shows how regional living has become more accessible.

“This has opened the door for people who previously needed to remain in the city for work, to look outside of the metro area to the growing opportunity in the regions,” Mr White said.

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Photo by @nknezevic on Unsplash.