Spring listings are up: and what it means if you’re selling now

There are more homes for sale in Perth right now than at any point in over three years.

At the end of August, 7,335 properties were advertised for sale across Perth — 7.8 per cent more than July, and 146.1 per cent more than the same time in 2025. The last time active listings passed 7,000 was March 2023.*

If you’re thinking about selling this spring, that number matters more than any headline about prices. Here’s what’s actually going on, and what it changes about how you go to market.

More listings doesn’t mean more sellers panicking

The easy read is that everyone is rushing for the exit. That isn’t what the data shows.

REIWA President Suzanne Brown has put the rise down to easing demand and homes taking longer to sell, rather than a surge of new sellers. After a shortage of new listings through late 2025 and early 2026, new listings have largely returned to long-term average levels.

In other words: supply has normalised. What’s changed is the pace on the other side of the transaction. Three interest rate rises this year have affected borrowing power, and buyers are being more careful with what they spend. Homes that would have moved in a fortnight last year are now sitting longer. And when homes sit longer, naturally supply stacks up.

The practical numbers

Perth houses sold in a median of 23 days in August. That’s unchanged from July, but 12 days slower than a year ago. Units took 21 days, 11 days slower than August 2025.

The other figure worth knowing: nearly half of all properties sold for less than the asking price in July.

And while annual median prices are still showing growth — houses at $960,000, up 18.5 per cent year-on-year — REIWA has been clear that an annual median is slow to reflect a turning market. Look at the June 2026 quarter instead and most suburbs recorded a decline in their quarterly median.

So: prices are broadly holding, but the market has shifted from strongly favouring sellers to something much closer to even.

The northern suburbs are holding up better than the Perth-wide picture

Perth-wide numbers flatten out a lot of local detail, and our patch has been one of the stronger ones.

Greenwood recorded the second-largest median house price growth of any Perth suburb in August, up 3.2 per cent to $1,146,750. Scarborough was third, up 2.9 per cent to $1,550,000. Doubleview also made the top performers list with growth of 1.9 per cent or more.

That’s three of our core suburbs in one month’s top movers. It doesn’t make the wider slowdown irrelevant — but it does mean a Perth-average days-on-market figure isn’t necessarily your days-on-market figure.

What this changes if you’re selling

Price to this market, not last year’s. The sellers finding the most pain right now are the ones anchored to what a neighbour achieved in early 2025. Buyers have more to choose from and more time to choose. An ambitious price that would have been tested and met eighteen months ago now just means a longer campaign and a price reduction later — which reads worse to buyers than starting realistically.

Your first two to three weeks carry the campaign. Enquiry is highest when a listing is new. With 7,000-plus homes competing for attention, a slow start is expensive to recover from. Everything — photography, copy, video, pricing, the first home open — needs to be ready on day one rather than improved in week four.

Presentation is doing more work than it used to. When stock was short, buyers looked past a tired listing because there wasn’t an alternative. Now there is. Styling, decluttering, a decent garden tidy and genuinely good marketing assets are the difference between a buyer booking an inspection and scrolling on.

A quieter market is still a functioning market. REIWA members reported 600 transactions in the week ending 13 September. Homes are selling every week. They’re just selling to prepared buyers who’ve done their comparison shopping.

Free professional video on all spring listings

Because presentation is where campaigns are being won right now, Lisa Buckley is offering a free professional property video, produced by DXTR Vision, on every spring listing — available until 30 November 2026.

If you’re weighing it up

The honest answer is that selling this spring takes more preparation than it did a year ago. It doesn’t take luck, and it doesn’t require waiting for a market that may not return to 2024 conditions any time soon. It takes accurate pricing, a strong launch, and marketing that earns a buyer’s attention in a crowded feed.

If you’d like to know what your home is realistically worth today — not last year (and not in a headline) we’re happy to have that conversation with no obligation attached.

*Market data sourced from REIWA, August 2026 figures released 6 September 2026, and the Perth weekly market snapshot for the week ending 13 September 2026.