East Coast buyers leave cities for a house, while West Coast buyers settle for unit living

Perth is bucking the national housing trend with unit and apartment sales booming in the Sunset State, while its East Coast counterparts now flock from inner-city apartment living to more spatial single house dwellings.

According to Western Australia's real estate institute REIWA, unit prices are outperforming the growth of house prices in 19 Perth suburbs, with Joondalup, Maylands and Rockingham the top three performers.

However, elsewhere in the country where there is higher density inner-city living, lockdowns, working from home (WFH), and health fears over COVID-19 has created a desire for more space, not only for backyards but for home offices as well.

While Western Australia?s capital city may have a different property market than the rest of the country, across the nation prices are rising with no signs of abatement.

Australia was ranked 7th out of 55 countries for its annual housing price growth at 16.4% for the 12 months to 30 June, the fastest annual pace since 2003.

There are nearly 11 million dwellings in Australia now with an estimated record total value of more than A$9 trillion ? nearly triple the size of all the stocks listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

According to CoreLogic, housing valuations are now higher than the combined value of superannuation accounts, the ASX, and commercial real estate.

One of the major catalysts for driving up values is the growing chasm between the number of buyers seeking a home, and the available houses on the market. This shortage in Perth is also why homebuyers and investors are being drawn to units.

Yesterday, as was widely expected, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) kept the cash rate at a record-low 0.10%.

However, with indications that the RBA could raise interest rates, whether the growth of the housing market can maintain momentum before the sector contracts remains to be seen.