Perth Sale Listings Hit 10-Year Low

Perth’s sale listings dropped to a 10-year low in February, with reiwa.com counting 7,899 listings at the end of the month.

This marks the seventh consecutive month of declining listings numbers in Perth according to REIWA President Damian Collins.

“In the span of a year, listings have dropped 36.5 per cent to now sit below 8,000 for the first time in about a decade. Buyers are very active in the market and soaking up stock at a rapid pace,” Mr Collins said.

Data from reiwa.com shows that the median sale price in Perth in February was $490,000.

“There were 50 Perth suburbs that saw their median sale price increase in February,” Mr Collins said.

“The suburbs with the biggest increase were East Fremantle (up 5.7 per cent), South Yunderup (up 5.2 per cent), Seville Grove (up three per cent), Cloverdale (up 2.7 per cent) and Ballajura (up 2.5 per cent).”

“Yes, property prices have increased in the last six months, but they remain below what they were five years ago so there are still good deals to be had.”

Further, data collected by reiwa.com shows the median time to sell a property was 21 days in February, which was on par with January, but some 25 days faster than it was in February of 2020. According to Mr Collins, houses in Perth haven’t sold that fast since 2006.

Perth’s rental market saw only 2,839 properties listed for rent at the end of February, according to reiwa.com data.

“This marks the sixth consecutive month we’ve seen listings sit below 3,000. Perth desperately needs an influx of rental stock in the market to provide renters with more housing options,” Mr Collins said.

Perth’s median rent price held at the five year high of $400 per week in February, which is on par with January and $40 more per week than February 2020.

“reiwa.com data shows 258 Perth suburbs saw an increase in rent during February.”

To compound the issue there were 186 Perth suburbs that recorded an increase in leasing activity during the month. It took a median of 19 days for a lessor to find a tenant for their property in February.

“Median leasing days are the lowest they have been since June 2013. Like we are seeing in the sales market, with so few available listings, tenants are having to act very quickly to secure a rental,” Mr Collins said.

For years, tech entrepreneur Asher Waldfogel and his wife, Helyn MacLean, dreamed of building a modern house in Palo Alto, Calif.

The couple, however, worried about clashing with the Mediterranean-style architecture typically associated with their neighborhood of Old Palo Alto.

So they tapped architect Steven Ehrlich to create a design that paid homage to its surroundings with stucco, mahogany and titanium zinc cladding. They spent $20 million over several years building the house, completed in 2005.

Designed for indoor-outdoor living, the house has matching mahogany paneling and limestone both inside and out. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

The dining room is between an outdoor garden and the staircase. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Now looking to be closer to their adult daughter on the East Coast, they are putting the five-bedroom home on the market for $44 million—the most expensive listing in Palo Alto.

Waldfogel is an angel investor who co-founded Redback Networks, a telecommunications-equipment company. MacLean previously had a career in fundraising.

The kitchen and family room open to the garden and pool. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Cast alcoves and mahogany shelves house the couple’s books and ceramics. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

The couple purchased the roughly 0.4-acre site for $7.1 million in 2000 and demolished a circa-1930s Spanish Colonial home. The house they built pinwheels around a central staircase. It has 7,900 square feet of livable space, with four distinct courtyards and a pool.

A key feature of the home is a cast-in-place concrete wall, or spine, that is two stories high and about 80 feet long. “There’s a little bit of controlled chaos in what comes out of the form,” unlike a perfectly uniform surface, Waldfogel said. “If you want that, you do it in plastic.”

Ehrlich said it took a few tries to get the concrete wall right. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

‘It’s a really hard material to tame,’ Ehrlich said of concrete. Workers learned as they went, and Waldfogel and Helyn grew to appreciate the imperfect material. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

A central staircase is housed in a glass tower. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Waldfogel said he and his wife are thinking about the next phase of life now that their daughter is grown, although they have not decided where they will move. They also have a home in Sun Valley, Idaho.

“Right now we’re just trying to emotionally let go and decide what to do next,” he said.

Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Two wings of the house are connected by horizontal planes. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Palo Alto, an epicenter of venture capital and tech startups in Silicon Valley, is home to some of the country’s biggest tech titans. Sales volume and prices are rising, with a median sale price of $3.5 million for the three months ending in August, up 5.8% year-over-year, according to real-estate brokerage Redfin.

Arthur Sharif of Sotheby’s International Realty—San Francisco Brokerage has the listing.

Perth Sale Listings Hit 10-Year Low

It’s the seventh consecutive month listings for sale had declined in Perth.

A five-bedroom Palo Alto home designed by Steven Ehrlich is listed for $44 million, making it the city’s most expensive listing. Built around a dramatic concrete spine, the home features four courtyards and a pool.