Property prices Australia

A MILLION dollars in Perth looks a lot different to $1 million in Sydney — even though both city’s median house prices were once on a par.

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Buyers can snap up two family homes in Perth for the price of one modest house in suburban Sydney as prices here fall to half of what real estate is fetching in the east coast boom.

Sydney’s median house price is almost seven figures — $970,000 — while in Perth it has slipped to $525,000.

“In certain parts of Sydney, small apartments are going for the same price as a family home in Perth,” Real Estate Institute of WA president Hayden Groves says.

“A very ordinary two-bedroom semi-detached cottage that needs completely renovating is selling for between $1.1 million and $1.6 million in inner-urban Sydney and there is no parking — you might have to park 1km away.

“Not so long ago, the median house price in Perth and in Sydney was aligned. We were $475,000 and they were $480,000 (in 2007). I can’t see the Perth and Sydney markets realigning any time soon.”

Loss of jobs in the mining sector in WA and a population boom in NSW is driving the great divide, with WA’s boom-time undersupply of housing now an oversupply.

WA property “bargains” are driving east coast retirees to consider crossing the Nullarbor, city estate agent Mark Hay says.

“We’re fielding inquiries from retirement-aged people in Sydney and Melbourne who, rather than buying on the Gold Coast, are now looking to Perth. Prices are low, interest rates are low and people are looking for the Perth lifestyle,” Mr Hay said. “Perth is still seen as a big country town and that appeals to a lot of people.

“The weather has a lot to do with it, but so does the proximity to Bali.

“You can get a decent one-bedroom city apartment in Perth for $350,000. Whereas in Sydney it’s about $650,000, which would buy you a very substantial four-bedroom two-bathroom home in a quality suburb.”

(Source: Perth Now )