Western Australia’s Top Suburbs for Rental Yield

Western Australia has captured the attention of property investors across Australia, with the state now boasting the fastest rates of property price growth in the nation. Meanwhile, WA also has some of the strongest rental yields. For many investors, capital growth is the overwhelming priority, but if you're chasing a positive cashflow rental property, these might be the areas to look.

Western Australia property investing in 2024

It's tough to argue with calling WA the hottest property market in Australia at the moment. Over the twelve months to April '24 the median price in Perth rose 21.1%, the strongest capital city growth in Australia, while regional WA also outperformed the rest of the nation with 13.3% growth.

It's been a remarkable performance, and while it may seem as though the ship has sailed, CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless says there is reason to suspect prices in Perth at least may still have a way to grow.

"The quarterly pace of growth, at 6%, is approaching the cyclical highs seen during the pandemic when interest rates were at rock bottom," Mr Lawless commented at the beginning of May.

Conditions remain tight; as of April, homes were on the market for an average of just ten days, while discounting rates were down at 2.4%. Demand has spilled out to the outskirts and surrounding areas, particularly to the south. Eight out of the ten areas with the highest annual growth to median property prices were south of Perth; areas like Armadale, Kwinana and Rockingham.

Arjun Paliwal, Founder of Buyers Agency Investorkit, says the strongest growth may be set to shift.

"What's going to have more continued growth, over the more medium term is going to be the middle rings of Perth [15-20kms from the CBD] because they just haven't seen anywhere as much price growth as the outer rings have," Mr Paliwal told InfoChoice Group.

Read more: Perth suburbs to watch in 2024

Western Australia rental yields in 2024

As of February '24, the average sale price, asking rent and rental yield in WA were as follows:

Source: CoreLogic. Data reported to the period ending February 2024. Median values account for sales transactions over three months.

The highest rental yields of any property type in Australia as of March were units in rural WA, with an average of 8.5%, with country WA also having the highest average yields on houses. Metropolitan WA also has relatively strong yields, outperforming the cities in all the other states/territories except Queensland and the NT.

One of the recurring themes in the below list is mining, which is probably the biggest reason rental yields in regional WA are so strong. Mining centres often have a more transient population, as workers temporarily relocate to an area for the duration of a project they are involved with. This means rental demand is strong, but does not translate to higher demand to buy property. Many of the highest rental yield suburbs below including Tom Price, where annual rental yields on houses are higher than anywhere in Australia, are in the Pilbara region. An area of more than 500,000 square kilometres, Pilbara encompasses Port Headland, Ashburton and Karratha, but is perhaps best known for its vast iron ore reserves. In 21/22, the value of iron ore extracted from the Pilbara region exceeded $134 billion according to WA mineral and petroleum statistics.

Highest rental yields in Western Australia (Houses)

Source: CoreLogic. Data reported to the period ending February 2024. Median values account for sales transactions over 12 months.

The rental yields in these suburbs aren't just the highest in WA, they are also many of the highest in Australia. The top four on this list (Tom Price, Nickol and Kambalda East and West) are also four of the top five highest rental yields for houses in Australia, along with Scottville in Queensland's Whitsundays. Lamington comes 25th on this list, and 53rd in the nation. There are a further 12 suburbs from WA that make our list of the top 100 nationally that didn't make the cut here.

As we've mentioned, mining is perhaps the defining theme. Nine of these towns and suburbs are in the Pilbara region including Tom Price and Nicol, while another eight are in Kalgoorlie, a well known centre of gold mining. The regions dominate with no suburbs from Perth making the list. Karratha is the biggest urban centre to feature, with a population of about 17,000.

Highest rental yields in Western Australia (Units)

Source: CoreLogic. Data reported to the period ending February 2024. Median values account for sales transactions over 12 months.

For units, Western Australia again dominates the nation. The top ten suburbs listed here are all in the top 15 nationwide, with Baynton units offering the highest yields of anywhere in Australia. There are six suburbs from Pilbara and another four from Kalgoorlie, so there's still a heavy mining presence, but Perth fares better for units as you'd probably expect. Nine of the above suburbs are in the Perth statistical division, including Wembley Downs, which at 9.8% offers the highest rental yields in any capital city.

Picture by Nathan Hurst on Unsplash

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