Australian mortgage brokers servicing WA clients face a tougher start to 2026, with new REIWA figures showing Perth rents and prices accelerating again off already constrained supply.
After a relatively subdued 2025, the median dwelling rent in Perth climbed to $720 per week in January, up 2.9% on December and 7.5% higher than a year earlier. House rents rose to $725 per week, a 3.6% monthly rise and 6.6% annual gain, while unit rents reached $690, up 1.5% over the month and 6.2% year-on-year.
REIWA President Suzanne Brown (pictured) said the move was partly seasonal, as higher‑end suburbs adjusted and families secured leases before the school year, but also a warning signal. Brown described the surge as “a timely reminder about the state of the rental market”.
Brown traced today’s conditions back to the post‑COVID investor retreat.
“The WA rental market experienced several years of crisis conditions following a mass exodus of investors following the lifting of the COVID rental moratoriums in 2021. Our modelling shows nearly 20,000 properties – or 8.4% of rental stock – were removed from the market,” she said in a media release.
“As a result, the vacancy rate dropped to record lows and rent prices soared, driven by the massive imbalance between supply and demand. The rental market has shown some improvement over the past 18 months, which has been mainly due to an increase in supply, however, we are not out of the woods.
“Population growth remains high and we have constrained conditions in both the new homes market and the established homes market. These factors are maintaining strong demand for rental property.”
Brown cautioned that “we cannot afford to be complacent about actions that might lead to another decline in supply and negatively affect the delicate state of the rental market,” noting an upcoming Residential Tenancies Act review and “growing calls for removing no grounds terminations”.
“We also know investors are sensitive to legislative change and are capable of leaving the market if they feel conditions are unfavourable,” she said. “We don’t want this to happen again; the WA rental market still hasn’t recovered from the previous exodus of investors. We all want improved outcomes for tenants, but we need to be careful of unintentionally impacting those we are trying to protect with any legislative change.”
On the sales side, Perth’s median house price hit a fresh record of $855,000 in January, up 1.8% over the month and 13.2% over the year. Units reached a median of $600,000 after a 1.7% monthly and 17.6% annual rise.
Brown said the latest interest rate rise, after the Reserve Bank lifted the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.85% in response to higher inflation, was unlikely to materially cool conditions.
“While an interest rate increase can impact demand by reducing borrowing capacity, we don’t see this increase having a major impact given the current market dynamics,” the REIWA leader said, adding that the “ongoing imbalance between supply and demand” will keep upward pressure on prices – and keep WA borrower capacity and risk firmly on brokers’ radar.
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