Suburb divide tipped to aid house prices

Murdoch University, Ryan Galloway

North Coogee marina will be part of the proposed Port Coogee division. Picture credit: Gnangarra, Wikipedia.

Property prices in Perth’s southern beachside North Coogee suburb could rise if a proposed division and renaming gets the green light. Cockburn City Council last week voted unanimously to support a community petition to spilt North Coogee into South Beach and Port Coogee. Port Coogee will house the marina and sit south of McTaggart Cove, while South Beach will sit to the north. According to Real Estate Institute of WA researcher Dillon Kanbi, the divide would make an already thriving coastal suburb even more attractive. “There is an additional element whereby creating two distinct suburbs creates an identity for each of those suburbs,” Mr Kanbi says. “That has perception impacts on buyer behaviour…that does tend to have some impact on demand for property and what people are potentially willing to pay for those properties.” “Of course having a new identity for the suburbs would help that (buyer perception) and in theory, continue to support the property markets in that area.” Property prices have been on the rise around the state and according to Mr Kanbi, North Coogee has followed the trend. “Property prices do seem to be accelerating quite quickly in the area,” Mr Kanbi said. North Coogee grew by about 12 percent in the past 12 months, which Mr Kanbi says is quite significant growth. “The medium is now well above a million-dollar market,” Mr Kanbi says.

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Cockburn councillor Kevin Allen said that while the Port Coogee Marina would now sit in Port Coogee instead of North Coogee, the proposed spilt would not benefit one suburb more than the other. “They’re both coastal, they’re both going to see very similar valuations given their locality to the coast,” Mr Allen said. Mr Allen said that the location would drive values in both locations and the new names make sense. The community petition received more than 2300 signatures from locals in the proposed areas. “I think it’s a very, very good idea, in particular, the port Coogee part of it because obviously, you do have a port, you do have a marina there that exemplifies that area,” Mr Allen said. “It’s not just a made-up name, there is something physical there ie, the Port Coogee marina so to me it certainly does make sense that the geographic names would agree to that locality.” The proposal is currently with Landgate.