July 10, 2026 — 10:17amOnce-in-a-generation homes are hitting the market across Perth giving first-time buyers a chance to snap up character-filled properties.Cotality data shows that while some of the highest profit-making sales are in suburbs with median holding times of as much as 11 years, in suburbs like Hilton, Fremantle and Girrawheen, homes are being listed for the first time in more than 50 years.C&CO director Lauri Curtain is currently selling a property at 91 Rennie Crescent South in Hilton, which is changing hands for the first time in its 56-year history.“This home was built in the 1950s when Hilton was established as an amalgamation between the Return Services League and state housing, so these owners were the only people I believe to have lived in this house,” Curtain said.The 902-square-metre property offers the opportunity to “restore, renovate, extend or completely reimagine its future.”“This home offers lots of different opportunities. It’s certainly livable at the minute, so it does offer the buyer the ability to live now whilst they’re working out what they want to do with the home,” Curtain said.“Often, I will recommend to buyers that they live in a home for a year or so before they make any decisions, so they can get an idea of the seasons and the orientation, and it will help them determine what they want to do with it.”Curtain, who has sold more than one generational home in the greater Fremantle area, said the property also has the potential to subdivide thanks to its R20 zoning.“This home also offers the ability that you could retain the front house and subdivide a block off the back,” she said.“It also has the option that you could renovate this home and still extend at the back, and whether you wanted to put an ancillary dwelling at the back or whether you wanted to put a pool at the back, you could do that as well.”As for its target market, Curtain says homeowners are the typical demographic likely to purchase a property of this type, as opposed to developers.“People often say, ‘Oh, a developer will buy it because they’ll do a subdivision’, but developers normally will get priced out of this property,” she said.“Because the homeowners are the ones that tend to want to pay that little bit more for something on a large block, because large blocks are becoming quite few and far between.”While all offers are welcome, Curtain anticipates the home will sell for around $1.35 million.In Girrawheen, a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home at 23 Golders Way has hit the market for the first time in 52 years.The 692-square-metre property also comes with the opportunity to subdivide or redevelop thanks to its R20/R40 zoning.Meanwhile, in Warnbro, 90 Currie Street has been listed for the first time since 1970 with offers starting from $789,000.Described as a “character home” the four-bedroom, one-bathroom property has been lived in for 56 years and comes with two living areas and a fully-powered workshop.Meanwhile in Coolbinia, one of its largest residential blocks – 1827 square metres – is hitting the market for the first time in over five decades.The $4 million property at 71 Armadale Crescent is a 1920s-built home which, much like the other old properties listed, comes with subdivision opportunities.With a northern frontage, combined with an elevated rear position, the five bedroom, three bathroom property has the potential for city views if a second storey is built.How long homeowners stay in the most profitable Perth suburbsAccording to Cotality’s latest Pain and Gain report, the southern council of Melville ranked second in the nation for the highest median profit-making sales, coming in behind Noosa, on the Queensland Sunshine Coast.There, the median hold period of profit-making sales was 9.9 years.The list of top 10 local councils for the most profitable sales was dominated by West Australian entries, with Melville immediately followed by Joondalup (a median profit of $694,400 and hold period of 10 years), then Nedlands ($680,000 profit, 10.4 years median hold period) and East Fremantle and Chittering coming in seventh and ninth on the list, respectively.However, there was a big disparity in the median hold periods between East Fremantle and Chittering, with homes in the affluent riverside enclave held for a median of 6.7 years while, in the Wheatbelt, it was 11.1 years.According to the Cotality report, the median hold period for profit-making home sales in Perth was 8.5 years, while in regional WA it was 7.5 years.Nationally, the median hold period for a profit-making resale was 8.8 years, down from 9.3 years in December.“That said, there was a significant difference in hold periods between houses and units,” the report read.“The median hold time of a loss-making unit was 9.0 years in March, somewhat longer (at 8.4 years) than the hold for a profitable resale, with location being a key driver.”More:Property marketProperty investmentProperty developmentPerthProperty listingsFrom our partners