The relatively unknown suburb of Viveash — wedged between Midland and Middle Swan — has risen to the top of the ranks in Perth’s property market with house prices in the area rising by more than $3000 a week in the past year.
House values in the eastern suburb shot up by an extraordinary 40.9 per cent in the year to June, according to the Real Estate Institute of WA, taking its median house price from $440,000 to $620,000.
Ray White Midland and Hills principal Richard Lowenhoff said the small suburb had remained hidden for many years, with not many buyers aware of its existence.
“But once they did know about it, then yeah, we’re started getting a lot of buyers and mainly owner occupiers because most properties are within 200m to the river, it has a prestigious secondary private school and it’s on the boundary of the Swan Valley, “ he said.
REIWA chief executive Cath Hart said Viveash, like the majority of the top 10 suburbs for house price growth, reflected a focus on affordability for buyers.
“The majority have a median sale price below Perth’s median and only two have a median house sale price over $1million,” she said.
“It indicates strong demand for suburbs in more affordable price brackets. Demand is also reflected in their selling times. The more affordable suburbs on the list have a median time on market that is nearly half that of the suburbs with a median over $1 million,” she added.
REIWA data shows the Perth property market had another strong year, with 54,307 preliminary settled sales of houses, units and land amounting to more than $39 billion in value.
“The median house sale price set a new record month after month over the financial year, and is now $665,000 for the year to June 2024. This is 18.8 per cent higher than at the end of the 2022-23 financial year,” Ms Hart said.
“The median unit sale price increased 11.3 per cent year-on-year to reach $445,000, just $5,000 below the previous record of $450,000 in 2014. We expect this record to be broken in the next few months.”
Homes are being snapped up in record time-frames
Ms Hart said while active listings remained low throughout 2023-24, newly-listed properties still came to the market in reasonable numbers.
“People are still selling, but homes are being snapped up in record time-frames so the number of properties advertised at any time appears low,” she said.
A new monthly record of a median eight days on market set in October and November, which was sustained throughout the first half of 2024.
“Affordability also came to the fore in the fastest selling list, with all ten suburbs recording a median house sale price below $550,000,” Ms Hart said.
“While there is clearly the appetite for, and ability to, buy property in Perth, price is important and buyers continue to act quickly when they see value.”
The fastest selling suburb for houses was Cooloongup, where homes sold in a median of five days.
Top 10 suburbs for median house price growth
Viveash 40.9%
Hillman 39.5%
Armadale 39.4%
Midvale 38.3%
Shelley 38%
Kallaroo 37.1%
Kelmscott 35.3%
Henley Brook 35.2%
Lockridge 35%
Haynes 34.7%
Source: REIWA