A closer examination of land sales in Perth reveal all is not well

It's busy today at The Australian.

Statistics hide fact demand has gone west

The Real Estate Institute of Western Australia has warned not to read too much into the 12.5 per cent increase in the September quarter median price of land.
. . . there has been an increase in sales of more expensive lots closer to the city and fewer sales at the more affordable urban fringe.

But the valuation firm says everyday examples paint a varied picture.

At the upper end, a premium vacant lot in North Coogee, a southern beachside area near Fremantle, recently sold for $1.025 million after being purchased for $2.2m in November 2007.

Given that some other lots in the street originally sold for more than $3m, there is more pain to be felt, HTW says.

This happened in California too. The mix started to shift, making it difficult to determine what exactly was happening. Firesales of a handful of high end properties more than makes up the difference for a decline in medium value properties, resulting in the average sale price going up (or in the case of California, making it appear to bottom out early).