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Property prices in Western Australia have struggled to claw back ground, but one mining community has made a strong comeback.
Located on the northern shores of WA, Karratha has seen its house prices increase nearly 27 per cent in the last year.
Nearly 16 hours north of Perth, the mining community saw the median price increase from $331,000 to $420,000 in 2019, according to Domain Group’s House Price Report.
The community has experienced an industry boost, which has injected life back into the town.
However, it is way off its housing peak in 2014, at the height of the mining and construction boom, where the median price was $820,000.
When the industry slowed, house prices nosedived to just over $300,000.
Pilbara Real Estate director Rob Sleator has seen the town’s marketing moving in the right direction for more than two years.
“The thing is it [Karratha] is a special region… it is a unique environment, and the economy moves independently and people talk about the busts. But if you look at the economic output [during those times], it’s still putting out. It’s like the sixth biggest economy in the country,” Mr Sleator told Domain.
“Here you get these major expansions, such as the Pluto Train 2 [by Bechtel] that could mean another 2,500 workers here. That just sends the market nuts… that’s more than 10 per cent of the population.”
Mr Sleator believes there is more room for improvement in the local economy as there are two additional fly-in fly-out workers’ camps in the pipeline.
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