The Perth real estate market has been one of the best performing real estate markets in the industrialised world.

Over the five year period until the March quarter 2005, the median house price in Perth jumped from $133,000 to $284,500 or 114%. This rise was very much in line with the increase recorded for the whole of Australia as measured by the latest international index of house prices produced by ‘The Economist’.

Their latest survey shows that house prices in Australia over the eight year period from 1997 to March 2005 jumped by 114% which was much higher than the United States (73%) and many European countries such as Italy (69%).

The strong increases in Perth property prices over the last eight years combined with the positive outlook for investment in the resources sector, is a key reason why a growing number of people from overseas are now investing in the Perth market. Internationally, more people are now prepared to purchase properties in other countries because of growing confidence in the global real estate market.

This trend is underlined by the visitors to our website (pfr.com.au) with more than 20% of all visitors now from outside Australia.

According to the latest estimates by The Economist, the total value of residential property in developed economies rose by more than US$30 trillion over the past five years to over US$70 trillion, an increase equivalent to 100% of those countries' combined GDP. This increase in global property not only dwarfs any previous house-price boom, it is larger than the global stockmarket boom of the late-1990s (an increase over five years of 80% of GDP) or the US stockmarket boom in the late-1920s (55% of GDP). According to the Economist, the current growth in global property prices is the biggest boom in history.