Housing Minister John Carey unveils seven social housing dwellings in Hamilton Hill

Seven “top spec” homes for social housing tenants have been unveiled in Perth’s southern suburbs for $4.8 million, as WA house prices continue to surge due to undersupply. The INKA-constructed homes in Hamilton Hill, unveiled Wednesday, are built on the site of a since-demolished high school. They were originally being constructed by Development WA as part of a Built to Sell program, where the agency would build properties to sell on the private market. Housing Minister John Carey said he instead paid the agency so that the three-by-two homes could be used for social housing at a cost of $690,000 each. “This represents good value, but it also demonstrates that we are taking every opportunity to boost social housing supply for our most vulnerable,” Mr Carey said. “These are top spec homes, but I would respectfully suggest vulnerable West Australians do deserve this type of top spec home.” Twelve one and two-bedroom homes in Hamilton Hill are also being built offsite by Dale Alcock for social housing. The unveiling comes as forecasters warn property prices are set to surge by between 20 and 30 per cent in Perth. Former Real Estate Institute of WA president Damian Collins told The West that Perth could see a supercycle of housing growth due to the current shortage of 16,000 dwellings. “(Perth property) prices need to rise at least 20 per cent to get to fair value, and 30 per cent or more is possible in the next three years,” Mr Collins said. ”Our chronic shortage of homes is not solvable with the labour shortage we have.” Perth’s median property price is currently below that of all capital cities apart from Hobart and Darwin, but was in 2008 higher than Melbourne — where prices have recently slumped — and Brisbane. Asked if Perth — which is now experiencing faster growth than the Victorian or Queensland capitals — could once again see higher prices than those cities, Mr Carey said he was “not the forecaster” but said the experts believed the only direction for prices was up. “The likely scenario is we’re going to continue to see an upward pressure in the median price,” he said. “The reality is, given the huge demand and the number of people deciding to make Western Australia their home, it is sending prices in a particular direction.” Mr Carey said the answer to housing and rental pressures, driven by population growth, was more supply. “That’s why you’ve seen this Government throw everything at it to boost housing supply. Whether it’s planning reforms, infrastructure funds for head works, a range of other tax incentives to boost housing supply,” he said. “I don’t think it’s clocked with all Western Australians yet that we are the fastest growing state capital, with 220 people coming to Perth and Western Australia each day.” Shadow housing spokesman Steve Martin said the seven homes being unveiled stood in contrast to the 35,000 people on the social housing waitlist and that the minister was “scrambling to catch up” and “frantically spinning”. “The private rental vacancy rate is low and is going to remain low for some time. And we aren’t building the homes we need,” the Liberal MLC said. Asked what the Liberals would do to address the housing crisis, Mr Martin said the party’s policies would “roll out in due course” ahead of the 2025 State election. “The Housing Minister for Western Australia is Labor’s minister John Carey. It is his task and it remains his task until the second Saturday of March next year,” he said. “It is up to him and his Government to fix this crisis.”