Real estate agents from Busselton to Augusta have experienced a significant increase in sales during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Stocker Preston recorded its biggest volume of sales for one month in their 50 year history of selling real estate in the South West with sales up 145 per cent compared to June last year.
The increase for the end of the 2019/20 financial year was largely due to the government incentives to build on vacant land, however the established market also continued to perform strongly.
Stocker Preston director Jason Cooper said COVID-19 had changed the region's marketplace and how the market moved at this time of the year.
"It is significantly better than previous winters and strangely enough pre COVID-19 our market was improving in confidence and was going quite well," he said.
"When COVID-19 hit us I thought it would really hurt the market for a lengthy period of time."
Three weeks into COVID-19 Mr Cooper said they started receiving a lot of enquiries, then as time progressed there were more enquiries from the Eastern States.
"In particular Victoria (before they had the second wave) South Australia, the North West and Perth," he said.
"All of a sudden we saw a run start to happen, while I am cautious about what might happen in the future I do hope this hangs around.
"June ended up being a massive month, not only in Busselton but also Dunsborough, Margaret River and Augusta."
Sales figures show the market was up 9 per cent in January and jumped 39 per cent in February compared to the same time last year.
When COVID-19 hit in March sales dropped almost 40 cent compared to last year, before picking up again in May and spiking in June.
Mr Cooper said people were attracted to the region's remoteness and some buyers were purchasing properties to use as holiday homes with the intention of moving here within two to three years.
"Because we are limited to travel now people are focused on what is important to them in their day-to-day life," he said.
"That is transferring into people buying their dream property down here.
"There seems to be an air of confidence in the general market and people are now realising it is not so much a buyers market now.
"For people who realise the market is doing well and want to sell there is probably no better time really."
Land titles close to sold out in Busselton and Dunsborough
Government incentives to help the economy recover from the fallout of COVID-19 has seen land titles almost completely sold out in the region.
In June, the WA Government announced that home builders could apply for up to $45,000 in government grants.
The government's $20,000 Building Bonus grant was made available to owner-occupiers or investors who entered into a contract to build a new home on vacant land or enter into an off-the-plan contract to purchase a new home as part of a single-tier development.
The Federal Government's $25,000 HomeBuilder grant was made available to eligible owner-occupiers who entered into a contract to build a new home or substantially renovate their existing home, or purchase a new home off-the-plan.
City of Busselton director of planning and development services Paul Needham said they had seen a significant increase in applications for building approvals during August with people taking advantage of the government stimulus packages.
"We expect building approvals to be significantly higher than normal over the next six months or so," he said.
"Building approvals for the first six months of 2020 were lower than last year by around 15 to 20 per cent.
"That reduction was likely in response to the uncertainty around COVID-19."
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Rental market
While properties are being snapped up in the region the rental market is shrinking with barely any properties available to people looking for long-term tenancies.
Mr Cooper said it was very hard to find a rental at the moment.
"It is extraordinarily hard and we do have a lot of good potential tenants looking for properties, I have not seen this kind of rental market for a very long time," he said.
"The natural progression is that it will have a positive impact on rental returns for investors, because our rents have been pretty stagnant here for a long time.
"What this will potentially do is make it more attractive for investors to come into the region and invest because they will get a better return on their investment."
