REIWA data reveals Geraldton property prices have stagnated while the rental crisis continues to worsen

Prices in the Geraldton property market appear to have plateaued, the rental crisis is worsening while houses are selling faster than they have in recent times. That is according to a breakdown of the Geraldton real estate scene for the June quarter provided by the Real Estate Institute of WA. REIWA’s June quarterly update reveals Geraldton’s median house sale price has not budged from $375,000 since the previous three months, rent listings are down 25 per cent and properties are selling 20 per cent faster than the March quarter. However, it’s not all doom and gloom, Geraldton (15.4 per cent increase) still remains third behind Broome (18 per cent) and Busselton (16.9 per cent) for median house sale price growth over the past 12 months. While there was no growth last quarter, Geraldton Property Team’s David Potiuch expects a slight rise in the future. “We just have to wait an see what the interest rates do and for the buyers to get their head around the rates, which have historically been at their lowest levels ever,” he said. “So once they’re happy with the rates, we’ll start seeing a lot of those buyers coming back into the market.” Mr Potiuch stressed that it was still a good time to buy in Geraldton. “I know that interest rates are going up a bit, but in the long term if you stay in the rental market, you could be paying $400 or $450 a week rent, where you could be putting that money towards your home loan. So the bigger picture is to own your own home,” he said. Properties for sale in the Geraldton area were on the market for a median of 39 days in the June quarter — compared with 48 days in the March quarter — which is a good sign according to Activewest Real Estate’s Phil Sorgiovanni. “If a property’s priced right, it’s clearly gonna go in a reasonable time,” he said. “Remember that back before the market picked up, the average time on market was about 120 days. So there’s a considerable split still to play with there, even though the market looks to be just balancing itself a bit.” Mr Potiuch said owners were taking their agents’ advice and listing their properties to meet the market. “I’ve got a few owners who were presented with a lower offer but obviously they’re aware of the rising interest rates, so they’re happy to accept that offer,” he said. Meanwhile the rental crisis shows no sign of letting up with 23 active rent listings recorded at the end of June, down from 31 in March. “It’s still a real battle and it’s not through anybody’s fault. The pricings one thing, but even if you could afford it, and lots of people can, you still got to be able to find one,” Mr Sorgiovanni said. “Everything runs in cycles, not just the real estate market. So we know that eventually it’ll get there. We know there are agencies working in the background to try and resolve it. But it just takes too long, you can’t build them.” Mr Sorgiovanni said attracting investors back to buy the stock and placing it into the system was the fastest solution as it was already available and built. “So do we offer incentives to bring investors back into that position to provide a reasonably priced rental property?” “There’s no point in bringing it on and charging $550 a week, that doesn’t help. It needs to be at a reasonable price position, incentives in certain price categories.” FIGURES BREAKOUT Median sale price March 22: $375,000 June 22: $375,000 Sales count March 22: 229 June-22: 215 Listings for sale March 22: 244 June22: 273 Median days on market to sell March 22: 48 June 22: 39 Median weekly rent March 22: $360 June 22: $370 Leases count March 22: 91 June 22: 78 Listings for rent March 22: 31 June 22: 23