Large jobs growth paving way for high WA returns

For Shane Kempton, chief operations officer of Professionals Real Estate Group in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, these statistics show a rise in full time wages and will bolster the state’s economy further.

Mr Kempton said Western Australia’s unemployment rate is lower than Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, which are all at 6 per cent, and Queensland which is at 5.9 per cent. Only New South Wales’ unemployment rate is higher at 4.8 per cent.

“To follow the national media, property investors throughout Australia would believe that Western Australia is an economic basket case,” Mr Kempton said.

“The reality is that there has been a major improvement in the WA economy over the past year which is being driven by an upswing in major new investment particularly in the gold and lithium resource sectors of the economy.”

The result of this improvement, Mr Kempton said, is already noticeable in the local property market.

“For example, the number of vacancy rental properties in Perth has now fallen to around 9,500 compared to over 12,000 just a short period of time ago,” he said.

“Professionals are also finding that our number of properties for sale listing are also starting to decline as buyers are becoming more active in the property market.

“In particular, Professionals is finding strong demand for properties priced below $400,000 in the more affordable areas of Perth such as Midland, Baldivis, Rockingham, Armadale, Byford and part of Mandurah.”