As seen in Australian Property Investor Magazine.
For investors looking for rent price growth and yield, units generally outperform houses.
| Property type | Houses (Year to March 2024) |
Units (Year to March 2024) |
Houses (Year to March 2023) |
Units (Year to March 2023) |
Houses (Year to March 2019) |
Units (Year to March 2019) |
| Median sale price | $625,000 | $425,000 | $550,000 | $400,000 | $497,000 | $393,000 |
| Median rent price | $600 | $550 | $520 | $450 | $360 | $325 |
| Yield | 5.0% | 6.7% | 4.9% | 5.9% | 3.8% | 4.3% |
However, the unit market can be broken down into four main types: villas, townhouses, units and apartments* and the returns vary across the categories. This month REIWA Research has looked at which unit types currently offer the best investment potential.
Rent price growth
When it comes to rent prices, villas recorded the strongest growth over the year to March 2024, rising 22.2 per cent to $550 per week. Over the longer term, units slightly outperformed villas, but both were significantly higher than townhouses and apartments.
Median weekly rent
| Property type | Year to March 2024 | Year to March 2023 | Year to March 2019 | 1-year change | 5-year change |
| Apartment | $560 | $475 | $350 | 17.9% | 60.0% |
| Unit | $450 | $380 | $260 | 18.4% | 73.1% |
| Townhouse | $650 | $550 | $400 | 18.2% | 62.5% |
| Villa | $550 | $450 | $320 | 22.2% | 71.9% |
| Unit market | $550 | $450 | $320 | 22.2% | 69.2% |
Days on market
The unit market has seen its median leasing time tighten marginally in the past year, dropping from 15 to 14 days. Villas were the fastest leasing unit type in both 2024 (13 days) and 2023 (14 days).
You can see the effect demand is having on the market when you look back to leasing days recorded during Perth's extended downturn. In March 2019, units as a whole leased in a median of 35 days, 21 days longer than we're seeing now. Townhouses were the top performer then, leasing in a median of 33 days.
Median time to lease (days)
| Property type | Year to March 2024 | Year to March 2023 | Year to March 2019 | 1-year change | 5-year change |
| Apartment | 15 | 16 | 35 | -1 | -20 |
| Unit | 14 | 15 | 36 | -1 | -22 |
| Townhouse | 15 | 16 | 33 | -1 | -18 |
| Villa | 13 | 14 | 36 | -1 | -23 |
| Unit market | 14 | 15 | 35 | -1 | -21 |
Yield
When we look within the unit market, villas are currently the top performer with a yield of 6.6 per cent. They also provided the highest yield in 2023 and 2019.
Yield March 2024
| Property type | Apartment | Unit | Townhouse | Villa |
| Annual median sale price | $510,000 | $380,000 | $600,000 | $435,000 |
| Rent | $560 | $450 | $650 | $550 |
| Yield | 5.7% | 6.2% | 5.6% | 6.6% |
Yield March 2023
| Property type | Apartment | Unit | Townhouse | Villa |
| Annual median sale price | $499,000 | $360,000 | $565,000 | $380,000 |
| Rent | $475 | $380 | $550 | $450 |
| Yield | 4.9% | 5.5% | 5.1% | 6.2% |
Yield March 2019
| Property type | Apartment | Unit | Townhouse | Villa |
| Annual median sale price | $515,000 | $335,000 | $520,000 | $338,000 |
| Rent | $350 | $260 | $400 | $320 |
| Yield | 3.5% | 4.0% | 4.0% | 4.9% |
