08/09/2026
🏡 The headlines say prices are dropping... Our sales data tells a different story.
You may have seen it: news reports citing new Cotality figures showing home values down ~5% in Hilton and White Gum Valley, and ~6% in Beaconsfield over the last three months. Lauri was even quoted on it in WA Today last week.
When we saw those numbers, they caught our attention too, because they don't match what we're seeing on the ground. So, we went and looked at the actual sales behind the headline 👀
Here's a real example. Take two recent C&CO sales in Hilton. Both were rear 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 2-car homes on similar land sizes, and both came to market at the same price point.
One sold for $1.15 million.
The other sold for $1.235 million - $85,000 more.
And that higher result wasn’t simply a matter of pricing. Five buyers were competing for the property, with that competition ultimately pushing the sale price up.
On paper, they’re reasonably comparable. But buyers don't buy on paper. One was positioned on a main thoroughfare, while the other was tucked away from a main road, within walking distance of a local park and offered more of the things we’re consistently seeing buyers place a premium on – established gardens, lawn, character, thoughtful design and sustainable features. Those differences are worth an extra five or six figures to buyers right now - and no suburb-wide average can capture that.
So we dug deeper. We looked at every single sale across all three suburbs in the last three months:
📍 White Gum Valley: 9 sales - 5 below median
📍 Hilton: 13 sales - 7 below median
📍 Beaconsfield: 11 sales - 7 below median
Only 33 sales total, and more of the properties that happened to sell during that period were below their respective suburb medians. And here's the key point: Selling below the suburb median doesn’t necessarily mean a property has fallen in value or underperformed. Many of those homes were simply lower-value assets to begin with and were priced accordingly. Factors such as a main-road location, asbestos, unusual block size or shape, condition, design and lack of established outdoor space can all influence what buyers are prepared to pay.
Of course, "more lower-priced homes sold this quarter" doesn't make as punchy a headline as "values fell 6%", but it's the more accurate story, and the one worth paying attention to.
Has the market shifted? Absolutely! Buyers have more choice, they're taking their time and they're getting pickier about what they'll compete for.
But are good, well-presented homes actually selling 5-6% below where they were three months ago? Not from what we're seeing. In fact, overall, we haven’t had properties needing to sell below their price guides, and when properties are ticking all of the boxes buyers are still facing fierce competition.
The real story might be this: the gap between homes buyers want and homes with obvious objections is getting wider - and that gap is what's dragging the averages down, not a genuine drop in value.
Headlines may tell you what's happening across a suburb based on data alone. We can tell you what's happening to a home like yours.
Whether you’re thinking of selling, wondering what your home might be worth, or trying to make sense of the market as a buyer, reach out to the C&CO team. We’re on the ground every day across the greater Fremantle area and can help you look beyond the headlines to understand what’s actually happening in our local market – and what it means for you.
