June 30, 2026 — 9:00amPerth’s property market appears to be slowly swinging in favour of buyers instead of sellers.New research from the Real Estate Institute of WA shows the number of sellers willing to part with their home for less than the listing price has increased over the past three months.Is the tide turning for first home-buyers?Three in 10 houses sold for less than their listing price in June, compared to one in 10 homes at the end of 2025.Arena Real Estate Agents director Josh Roberts said the property market has seen a “slight softening” in recent months.“There’s a lot of properties that are still performing to the level that we think they will, and then there’s the odd occasion where they’re slightly under the expectation, but even in those situations it’s pretty close to the asking, so not significant reductions,” he said.Roberts said the shift in pricing could be attributed to a lack of investor interest and buyer urgency reduction.“We haven’t really seen many investors over the last probably six weeks, they’ve mainly been first home buyers and owner occupiers, so that’s reduced the number of people through the door,” he said.“Then just off the back of that, the urgency levels from a buying perspective have softened a little bit.“In months gone past you might do one or two open homes, and expect three or four offers. Now it’s taking three or four or five open homes and one or two offers.”But the shift is starting to lean towards the buyers’ favour.Roberts says the market previously was “very much skewed” towards sellers whereas now it appears to be “fairer than what it was in months gone past.”“Buyers at the moment are liking the fact that they’re not being pressured into making decisions on the spot because there’s going to be somebody else buying it then and there,” he said.“They’ve got a bit more time to make decisions, they can be a little bit pickier with what they’re looking for, and make sure it really is what they’re after, rather than just grabbing the first one they see because they’re scared that the market’s going to get away from them.“It’s definitely a fair market for everyone at the moment.”REIWA president Suzanne Brown believes the shift is due to more listings hitting the market.“After a shortage of new listings in the second half of 2025 and the first quarter of this year, properties have been coming to market in reasonable numbers since late March,” she said.“This has eased the supply side of the supply and demand equation, giving buyers more choice.”She also said changes to the federal budget have created “noticeable changes” to demand with a clear drop in investor enquiries and interest from first home buyers.“While the changes have prevented a mass exodus of investors from the market, they have deterred potential investors, with our members reporting a clear drop in investor enquiry post budget,” she said.“Interestingly, these changes were supposed to improve things for first home buyers, but in my experience, they too have taken a step back. Potentially they are concerned about stories of falling prices from the east coast and the threat of negative equity.“From a first home buyer’s point of view, they shouldn’t be concerned. If they plan to live in their home for some time, it should not be an issue.”Of those sellers that were discounting, the average difference between the listing price and sale price was 7.5 per cent.“This isn’t a significant change from the average discount of 6.3 per cent recorded in the March quarter,” Brown said.“However, where we have seen the biggest change in the market is in the overall average of the difference between the listing and sale price.“Seventy per cent of houses have sold for at or over their listing price in June, but the average difference between listing and sales price has dropped from +6.5 per cent in the March quarter, to +1 per cent.”Brown suggests that the change doesn’t indicate that property prices as a whole are falling, but instead that the market is stabilising and the rate of price growth slowing.“It reflects the increase in the number of new listings and decline in demand, which has reduced the competition for available properties and eased the significant upward pressure on prices,” she said.“Three interest rate increases since the beginning of the year have also had an impact. They have reduced buyers’ borrowing capacity and, therefore the amount they can offer for a home.Property listingsFrom our partners