This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
MORE than $33 million worth of Perth and Mandurah development sites has changed hands across major deals in recent months, as developers look to take advantage of a severe shortage of residential housing supply.
The mismatch in supply in demand has been a drive in Perth’s house prices having led growth nationally in 2024, and being set to do so again in 2025, while its rental market has a crushing vacancy rate of below 1%.
Among the deal, a vacant 7.61-hectare site in the outer southern Perth suburb of Karnup primed for subdivision in the near-term sold for $8.1 million.
Zoned for development under the City of Rockingham Town Planning Scheme No. 2, Lot 3 Mandurah Road is situated between the Rockingham and Mandurah town centres and adjoins estates such as Vista Private, Golden Bay, and Secret Harbour, with its rear boundary abutting the Mandurah train line.
In the northern suburb of Madeley, a 1.84-hectare mixed-use site at 194-200 Wanneroo Road traded for $7.8 million. Also vacant, the site neighbours Kingsway City Shopping Centre and Highland Medical Centre, and has huge exposure from Wanneroo Road and the nearby corner of Hepburn Avenue.
The site is situated within the East Wanneroo Cell 6 and offers opportunity for imminent residential subdivision of about 30 lots and commercial development.
Knight Frank’s Tony Delich and Cory Dell’Olio negotiated the sales, with local developers on the buy side in both.
The story was the same for 9006 Reynolds Avenue and Kirkpatrick Drive in Mandurah’s Greenfields, which spans 4.87 hectares and sold for $2.7 million. That site has the potential for 70 residential lots, and is close to the Mandurah town centre, and train, bus and freeway networks. The suburb has had one of the biggest increases in home values across Perth, with prices rising by more than 35% over the past 12 months.
In the inner south-east, meanwhile, RWC has recently sold a 9,545 sqm infill site at 176-178 Swansea Street in East Victoria Park for $8.45 million.
That property is positioned just 500 metres from the Oats Street Metronet train station and re-zoning is underway to expand development options to include medical, residential, retail and childcare.
Delich said there had been a strong buyer response to the sale campaigns for the recently-sold development sites, resulting in more than $25 million changing hands across four deals struck by Knight Frank over the past few months.
“There is huge demand for residential property in Perth with a shortage of supply relative to demand,” he said.
The shortage has been exacerbated by migration into Western Australia, with people attracted to the state’s strong economy which was recently named as Australia’s best-performing in the latest CommSec State of the States report.
“Each of the development sites we recently sold – except for Greenfields, which was sold off market – received more than 60 enquiries, with multiple offers received above the expected price, and ultimately all were sold in cash deals,” Delich said.
Dell’Olio said in this market, with huge demand from developers, “buyer offers are clean, with no due diligence clause, otherwise they are generally not accepted”.
“For the smaller sites up to 20 hectares we generally find local buyers who understand the market are more successful than developers from eastern states, who tend to make offers with conditions.”
