Western Australia Tops Property Investment Growth In Australia

In good news for renters in Western Australia, the State has recorded a record level of investment by property investors during April 2024 and recorded the biggest growth rate in investment by investors of any State in Australia over the past year.

Kevin Young, President of Property Club said that the latest ABS figures showed that investor lending in WA topped $1.15 billion during April 2024 – a record for the State.

“Property investment activity in the State has surged over the past year after growing by a massive 71.6%. “This compared to property investment growth rates over the same period of 46.8% in New South Wales, 16.4% in Victoria, 44.8% in Queensland, 46.3 % in South Australia and 19.0% in Tasmania.

“As predicted by Property Club earlier this year, this surge in property investment is now starting to have a positive impact on the rental market with the Perth vacancy rate finally starting to tend upwards over recent weeks. “And the most recent REWIA figures show that there are now more than 300 properties available for rent in Perth compared to this time last year.

“This growth in property investment activity in Western Australia is confirmed by our own figures with more than half of Property Club members throughout Australia are now investing in WA.

“In particular, they have been attracted to investing in Perth because it has relatively more affordable property compared to the other major capital cities, higher rental yields and a strong economy.

“Another factor encouraging our members to invest in Perth has been anti landlord regulations and high property taxes being imposed in other jurisdictions throughout Australia.

“A classic example is Victoria which surging property taxes combined with onerous regulations on landlords has resulted in many of our members exiting the State and deciding to invest in Western Australia.

“This is now leading to a State Government inducted rental crisis in Victoria with recent figures showing that the number of homes occupied by renters in Victoria plummeted by more than 10,000 in the first three months of 2024.

“The report by government-run Homes Victoria found renter-occupied homes fell by 15,600 in a year, well below the 10-year annual average.

“And over the past year, the number of active bonds fell by 2.7 per cent in metropolitan Melbourne and by 0.8 per cent in regional parts of the state. “As a result of these anti landlord policies, property investment in Victoria grew by just 14.6% over the past which was a fraction of the 71.6% recorded by WA and not enough to compensate for the loss in landlords caused by these anti landlord policies in Victoria.

“Property Club has always argued that mum and dad investors hold the key to solving the rental crisis in Australia as they account for more than 90% of all private ownership of rental properties.

“That is why the WA State government and other jurisdictions should take heed of what is happening in Victoria and not impose any more rules that may discourage private sector investment.

“In that respect, the WA State government made a wise decision to retain no-grounds evictions rule in its recent rental reforms which has been abolished in Victoria.

“The rental crisis will only be alleviated unless the State Governments adopt an ‘open for business’ approach to mum and dad property investors rather than trying to discourage them by more red tape and higher taxes as is the case in Victoria.” he said.