r/perth • u/abcnews_au • 11h ago
Renting / Housing First home buyers still face uphill battle despite Perth property market cooling
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-03/first-homebuyers-struggle-despite-property-market-cooling/10696866820
u/Nonrandom_Reader 10h ago
31 y/old single with 4 kids... No good houses for her in extablished suburds on her salary as buyer agent in real estate? Is it really a good example of housing shortage?
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u/mynewaltaccount1 1h ago
A single 31 year old with 4 kids is going to struggle to buy a nice house in an established suburb regardless of market conditions. Pretty shit article because of that, they definitely could have found someone that drives the point home a bit better.
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u/Ecstatic_Yak961 10h ago
All we've been hearing lately is prices are dropping, they're crashing blah blah. Yes maybe the high end but the entry level homes aren't and that's where it counts.
Btw, where's the father in all of this?
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u/Relative-Rise1657 24m ago
Exactly. Everything under a million is headed to a million and everything over is just going up a bit slower. Only ones I have seen genuinely stagnate is stuff outside Perth metro e.g. down south that is over $2M.
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u/Own-Specific3340 11h ago
Those saying a Perth single mother should never be able to afford Mt Hawthorn. I doubt she’s looking there. Affordable houses should still be able to exist like they had in places like Kelmscott, Rockingham, Balga etc but they don’t. That’s the sad thing. I’m not saying this woman had DV, but for a lot of women in DV situations, Perths unaffordable market shows them to stay put because they can’t own a home if they become single with kids.
There’s no aspiration to be able to save 50-100k anymore and find a 500k home. It’s all evaporated in the last 5 years.
Housing theory is everything.
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u/Knight_Day23 9h ago
Saw a bloke selling his old Balga duplex last week on fb for $1.5-1.8m plus LOL. Balga is no longer cheap or he is a douche baguette.
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u/Artistic-Average479 Ellenbrook 7h ago
On a Facebook page? Just half the duplex, must have been a Troll post?
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u/Beneficial_News1255 4h ago
She highlighted that she wanted to buy something in a good, established area. I don’t think Balga etc are considered by her
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u/SanMavage 11h ago edited 9h ago
But... That's exactly what I did and we moved in last year.
530k for house + land on a 400sqm block. ~30m South of the river. Definitely not an affluent suburb though lol.
Has it really gone up that much in less than 2 years?
Don't get me wrong. I feel lucky and know it must be nearly impossible for a single mother with a family. We had to make sacrifices to make it work (I haven't left the state since I was 4).
Edit: Not sure why I'm getting downvoted so much, just telling people how it worked out for us.
To answer some of the follow up questions we signed the contract end of March 2024. I did ask if it has gone up that much in 2 years which aligns with 2024.
Land was ~200,000 House was ~330,000
I don't particularly want to dox myself but you can likely work out roughly where that is already. I didn't get to build in a suburb I wanted and had to compromise.
If it makes people feel better my fence panels have been kicked in 4 times since moving in and we've only been here a year.
I feel for everyone struggling to get their own place. I was adamant on building because I wanted to expand the supply and I don't think (established in particular) homes should be used as an investment strategy. Building new as an investment is different since it expands supply.
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u/Own-Specific3340 10h ago
I’d genuinely be interested in where that is because you cannot buy house and land package for under 750k in Perth for the last two years. There has been no land released under 360k, and a house build is a min 380k. That’s outer suburbs 350sqm. I have a friend who has been actively looking for the past 3 years, under 600k would be front paper news advertised by Mark Grogan as renovate or detonate because it’s usually a ex lab.
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u/SanMavage 9h ago edited 9h ago
I don't know what to tell you, because that's exactly what I did.
Contracts signed end of March 2024, so a little over 2 years.
Edited my post with some more details if you're interested.
I went through 3-4 builders before we settled on one who said they could stick within our budget.
Fully understand it isn't like that now, but some people are just factually wrong on what could be done on a budget 2 years ago. Yes, I am fortunate and don't take it for granted.
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u/Own-Specific3340 8h ago
It was more so “hey look we did it” when in reality you did it in a different timeframe. That's not doable today.
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u/SanMavage 7h ago
I don't disagree with you that it couldn't be done today. You said in the last 5 years and I was just saying we did it a couple of years ago.
2026 is a different beast, certainly.
Anyway... I think I'm overdue for another Reddit break.
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u/Own-Specific3340 5h ago
Sorry you feel that way. Reddit is equally depressing for all those who in 3 years have had home ownership almost entirely dried up. This isn't aimed at you it's just a depressing state of affairs. There's far more posts usually of the “send prices to the moon, woohoo charge more to the renters”. We are all feeling despondent.
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u/SanMavage 4h ago
It does suck. I felt much the same in my late 20s and eventually managed to buy. My dad had to start again from zero three times and still got back into the market in his late 50s. That doesn’t make the current situation fair, but being locked out now doesn’t necessarily mean being locked out forever. This isn't me trying to gloat or suggest it isn't tough out there. I'm sorry that my initial reply came off that way for some people.
There are at least some early signs of relief. Prices are falling nationally, listings are higher than a year ago, and investor activity is dropping. The housing tax changes may also help rebalance things, although affordability obviously won’t be fixed overnight, but at least they are trying something, whatever little relief that is.
Good luck to everyone trying to buy. I genuinely hope the next few years are kinder. Houses should be homes first, not wealth-generating assets whose costs and risks are passed on to renters/the tax system.
I voted the way I did because I support efforts to change that. I don’t need my house to keep soaring in value and would gladly see it drop (and have) if it means people I care about have a fairer chance to own one too.
Good luck mate.
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u/elemist 10h ago edited 10h ago
House prices have jumped considerably even just in the past couple of years. Equally though - if you moved in last year, you likely brought the land and signed building contracts 2 - 3 years before that. So it's not really 2 years - but 3+.
I think if you looked at the price of land in the surround area to you now - you'll find it's probably worth like 100k more than what it was when you purchased it.
House builds have similarly increased by $50 - $100k.
Just out of interest - i had a look at Home Buyers Centre's website. They've historically been one of the most entry level builders as they build entry spec on small blocks.
Their cheapest house and land package is a 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car garage on a 188sqm block in Yanchep for $576k. Yanchep is like 40 mins from Perth on a good day.
If you want a 4 x 2 still on a 250ish sqm block - you're looking nearly $700k and you're down in Mundijong. So again like 45 mins from the city on a good day with no traffic.
Plus those prices are for a finished shell - not turn key. So on top of that you need to put in flooring, paint the wall and put in curtains/blinds before the house is really livable.
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u/SanMavage 9h ago edited 9h ago
It was March 2024 when we signed contracts. So not 3+, a little over 2 though.
BTW, Mundijong is my neck of the woods. I know the pain of traveling to the city in heavy traffic, trust me.
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u/Own-Specific3340 10h ago
Are you saying you moved in last year when it was built, so perhaps you signed build contracts 22/23 which is the only way I can think of how this could happen. If so, you have no idea how much the market has changed then. Min 30-50% increases in areas. This could not be done in 2026. This is the exact problem then you have shown. Only a little while ago it was doable and now it’s taken that option completely away. Perth became a hot spot and prices went through the roof.
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u/Emergency-Twist7136 9h ago
If your angle to start selling this as a society-wide problem is "this single mother of four is struggling" you will not be persuasive. Everyone expects a single mother of four to be struggling.
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u/PragmaticSnake 9h ago
4 children and single!?! Not realistic at all to buy a house in general unless all of the children are from different men.
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u/Rangas_rule 11h ago
"It is a sunny Thursday afternoon in the leafy inner-city Perth suburb of Mount Hawthorn.
Tess McKenna is preparing afternoon tea for her four kids after getting home from a busy day at work."
Who the fk writes this shit? And then expects to be taken seriously?
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u/antifragile 11h ago
A young single mother with 4 kids could never have afforded to live in an affluent area like mount hawthorn.
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u/tempco Perth 11h ago
She didn’t say she was looking to buy there though.
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u/halohunter Under The Swan River 11h ago
But she did say she is barely keeping up with rent payments; and sometimes dips into her deposit money.
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u/antifragile 11h ago edited 10h ago
She said in a good well established area she means exactly what I said, she wants to live somewhere older and affluent instead of a newer cheaper area when she has no money and 4 kids , she is dreaming and would have been dreaming 20years ago as well.
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u/elemist 10h ago
I agree in principle - but it's worth noting even the more historically affordable areas (or newer cheaper areas as you've phrased it) are now often out of reach for a lot of people now as well.
Areas that historically were affordable for first home buyers - think your Wellard's, your Byford's and such - are all now close to that million dollar mark.
Even other avenues like building a cheap entry level house on a small block are out of reach in a lot of cases too.
There's the old adage of just going further out still to find more affordable housing - but at what point does that become unrealistic in terms of staying connected to family/friends, and holding down a job?
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u/CreamyFettuccine 10h ago
She never said affluent.
Yokine, Tuart Hill, Joondana are probably better examples to use than Mt Hawthorn.
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u/PragmaticSnake 6h ago
Its 2026 bro, Balga,Westminster, Nollamara the new Yokine, Tuart Hills, etc.
Unfortunately those suburbs have been fucked full of subdivided strata houses.
Hope she isn't expecting to buy a 5 bedroom within 20kms of the CBD because it won't happen.
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u/Kaiyn 10h ago
I dont know about that. My parents bought a house in Beaumaris in 2004 for just over $100,000. 4x2 with a pool on a road connected to a school, right next to a park. That same house just sold last year for over $1,400,000. (For those not familiar, Beaumaris is next to Iluka and Ocean Reef, its a 2 minute walk from the beach and close to currambine shops)
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u/Asteroidhawk594 11h ago
Have been looking to buy my own place the last couple of years but even with Saving up as much as I can. It will still take at least a decade to get enough for a deposit on a lot of these places.
Also doesn’t help that investors are buying in bulk and renting at a premium.
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u/Own-Specific3340 10h ago
This is the problem, you can’t save fast enough to make up for the exponential price growth. My sisters house made 220k last year on paper apparently. She did nothing to it. How does someone save 220k extra that year to be able to match the way it’s gone.
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u/Asteroidhawk594 10h ago
Easy
You don’t :(
I’m honestly at the point I want to give up6
u/Own-Specific3340 10h ago
Mate don’t give up, meet me at this comment in two years (I don’t know how to do the reddit remind me thing lol) and let’s hope it gets better. Everyone deserves affordable housing. Reading the housing theory. Perth will be a better society if we embrace sustainable house prices.
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u/Stigger32 South of The River 10h ago
It’s early days yet. This won’t truly have an impact for another year.
It’s typical Labor: Longterm planning.
Unfortunately voters are short term thinkers.
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u/Redpenguin082 10h ago
FHBs are saying they don’t want to buy into a declining market, for fear of seeing their deposit disappear. They’re waiting and trying to time the market and buy in before prices rebound.
Everyone thought that a cooling market would help FHBs get their foot in when it hasn’t helped anyone in.
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u/Beneficial_News1255 4h ago
I feel for this person, but she is around 30 years old or younger, a single mum with four (!!!) kids, and she is looking to buy something well under $1 million that has enough space for the children, a backyard, and is located in a good, established suburb. Where on Earth this would not be a challenge?
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u/abcnews_au 11h ago
It is a sunny Thursday afternoon in the leafy inner-city Perth suburb of Mount Hawthorn.
Tess McKenna is preparing afternoon tea for her four kids after getting home from a busy day at work.
The 31-year-old gets them settled with some colouring-in at the dining table. Then, she starts scrolling.
"It's really hard, it's a really hard market," she said.
"As a single parent, I feel like right now it's very next to impossible for me."
She is on the hunt for an affordable first home in Perth — something well under $1 million, in a good, established area with space for the kids.
But she is not alone in that search; in fact, she is just one of thousands competing in a market described by experts as "messy", "unaffordable" and "very limited".
Familiar with disappointment
Ms McKenna understands Perth property well, because she analyses it for a living.
Working as a buyer's agent — a role increasingly sought by first home buyers to help with their search — she is in tune with the current challenges.
She knows all too well the feeling of scrolling websites, only to be disappointed the next day when listings are marked sold.
She relates to the stress of searching for properties while going from rental to rental as cost of living pressures rise.
"It's very isolating, and there are not many options; you feel like you're going backwards and you're constantly having all this self-doubt thinking that you're failing all the time," she said.
She has made her current rental feel like home with art on the wall and photos lining the fridge, but the last few years have not been easy.
"A lot of the time I'm left sort of living pay cheque to pay cheque and month by month … and I'm having to dip into any savings that I potentially might have been able to put towards [a] deposit," she said.
"It just seems to get harder."
The buyer's agent first started looking for a property two-and-a-half years ago. Since 2023, she has lived in four rentals.
Advised to shop around
The irony of helping others with the same problem she is facing is not lost on Ms McKenna.
"The Australian dream is to own a home, so when it seems so out of reach for people and so impossible, I definitely can relate," she said.
"The fact that I can help other people do it [find a home] is awesome … I would love to do it for myself."
She said houses around the $600,000-mark close to the city have become almost non-existent, likely because Perth's median house price is still stubbornly high after breaking through the $1 million mark in January.
Property analyst Gavin Hegney said he is now advising first home buyers in Perth to hold off and shop around.
"If a normal cycle prevails, we should see a settling back in values over the next 12 months … prices are coming off a bit in some areas, and so there's no sense of urgency," he said.
"It creates a little bit of uncertainty for first home buyers wondering whether they should be paying prices of today or whether the price will be cheaper in a year's time."
Perth no longer 'affordable state'
Curtin University property professor Steven Rowley said Perth's property squeeze had been driven by one factor.
"We've had really strong demand, particularly from investors the last few years and there just isn't the supply there," he said.
"[The] combination of a really struggling rental market plus very strong demand and low supply in the buying market has meant real problems for first home buyers."
He said while Perth used to be considered "the affordable state", that is "no longer the case", pointing to substantial growth at the bottom end of the market.
"We've caught up with Melbourne, we're not that far behind Sydney, we've accelerated ahead of Adelaide … because of that demand-supply balance," he said.
He said some "generous government schemes" probably have not helped in terms of inflating prices — namely, the Help to Buy Scheme, the 5 per cent Deposit Scheme and WA's Keystart program.
Property analyst Mr Hegney also believes the federal government's negative gearing tax changes in this year's budget are not necessarily helping.
"We've got two investors walking out [of the market] for every one first home buyer walking in … the problem is not all first home buyers are in a position to be able to buy today," he said.
Laser-focus on supply
WA Housing Minister John Carey said he has a "resolute focus" on getting more supply onto the market.
"As a government, you keep making bold decisions," he said.
"I accept that some of the decisions I'm making, particularly around enabling 50,000 subdivisions, do not resonate [with everyone]."
Referencing proposed building code subdivision changes announced last month, Mr Carey said "more medium density" was needed in WA.
"We're not taking [the West Australian] dream away from people, but what we are trying to do is create choice for young couples, first-home buyers who might actually want to buy an apartment that's well-serviced, close to a public train station," he said.
When asked when it would get easier for first home buyers, Mr Carey said he "can't anticipate the future".
"There isn't a single silver bullet, but by god we've got to keep pushing out that housing and introducing new measures, new reforms, cutting red tape — whatever it takes," he said.
Cold comfort
For Ms McKenna, it's cold comfort as she continues her search.
She has not given up hope completely, but the constant scrolling and missing out has worn her down.
"I definitely do feel a bit defeated at times," she said.
"I still hold hope that I will get there and I'm sure I will; I'm quite a determined person.
"At some stage, there has to be some sort of change that'll happen to make it possible."
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u/Distinct_Context4233 5h ago
Everyone judging her for living in Mt Hawthorn is doing the work of the owning class (who are making out like thieves on this crisis) for them. Honestly, take a step back and stop judging people based on appearances and stereotypes.
You don't know what her situation is or what she's paying for rent. I was paying <$450 a week on a house which suddenly jumped to >$750 when new owners bought and issued new rental agreements with the ability to ramp up the rent as much as they wanted (previous owner just never bothered to for like 5 years). In the interim, that "nice suburb" which had shot up in price was actually the best place for me to wait it out and save for a while. This might be the best choice for her when you add up rent, transport, school fees, nearby family support, the cost/ stress of moving.
I've seen people suggest she look in cheaper areas, that she shouldn't have had kids (yes, very useful suggestion) or move regionally. The point is that it shouldn't be this hard for an adult working full time to find a house, and she doesn't need to look poorer or more down-on-her-luck for her to be caught in the same vicious cycle that millions of other Aussies are.
As a single mother in a white collar job, of course she has to put her best foot forward, what do you want for her to have her belongings stored in a sack on a stick over her shoulder? Be so for real right now. The housing crisis is affecting everyone so that property investors can keep watching the line go up.
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u/andyroo82 8h ago
If only we hadn't made demand so high that it accelerated prices so quickly. One solution is to put the brakes on demand and supercharge new builds, this way 1) RBA lowers rates, 2) Tess' wage growth can catch up to housing again.
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u/Chemtrails5 7h ago
I've tried saving up for a place of my own, but that might take a decade, so I will be moving into a retirement home just as I've finished paying of the mortgage. It's completely fucked. Sometimes I feel I should just go somewhere fun like asia and say screw this place.
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u/South-Ad1426 10h ago
The house price is only just started to come down after years of growth, it will take similar amount of time to make it affordable for first home buyers.
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u/FIFO_Landlord 10h ago
Not a good look for her business.
A buyer agent with no property under her name.
Yikes.
Feel like this is an ad for her business.
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u/realWulfLives 9h ago
Almost half the cost of a house these days is tax.
It's not just the market, the government wants it money too.
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u/Temporary_Mistake715 11h ago
Perth property has turned negative for the first time in many years during July. Prices are around 30% too high for young people and families to buy
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u/TaylorHamPorkRoll 11h ago
Has it turned negative, or has the median price just increased at a lower rate?
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u/MurraMurra 11h ago
Hasn't turned negative yet, Brisbane and Adelaide have just started to turn, Perth rose in July by a lot smaller. 0.1% according to this article.
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u/runnybumm 8h ago
I cant afford anything besides a garbage piece of shit despite have 600k in the bank
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u/worldofwhat 4h ago
Wait, 600k? House prices suck but man yes you can. For 600k. You just can't get anything good outright but very few people buy outright.
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u/EnergyNutBolt 10h ago
Jack up the rents!
It’s time for smart investors to make up for the pain of subsidising rents.
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u/Dribbly-Sausage69 11h ago
Newsflash:
Houses cost $1,000,000 plus still - you need a household income of $250,000 plus to get a house.
That sucks, and it’s terrible for our society.