Value and variety: Silver linings for Mandurah property market

They predict the city will bode better than others in the coming months due to its desirable lifestyle, a wide variety of properties and easy access to Perth.

Much like any other markets around the country, the Peel region's market hasn't been immune to the effects of the pandemic.

But while many local real estate businesses admit their sales numbers have decreased, they remained optimistic of a bright future.

"Volume of business has certainly diminished somewhat, but it's not to the level that many have been speculating and house values in the area have remained fairly steady over the past month," ACTON Mandurah director and licensee Graeme Baxter said.

"Mandurah is in as good a position as any to come out of this strongly, perhaps even a better position than anywhere else in WA just due to the cross-section of properties we have available.

"Whether you're looking for a mid-range property, a canal house, acreage on a block or an apartment, you can find all of that here and still be less than an hour from Perth."

One issue local real estate firms are facing in the midst of COVID-19 is a lack of sellers willing to put their home on the market during the crisis.

But Harcourts Mandurah owner and licensee Wayne Davey said the current situation presented opportunity for potential sellers, who would face less competition.

"With less properties coming onto the market, if you choose to sell now you're likely to only be up against three or four other properties within that suburb or neighbourhood," Mr Davey said.

"But those waiting to see how this plays out are likely to be part of an influx of people putting their homes on the market, so there's going to be much more competition out there."

As of April 21, Harcourts Mandurah had sold 24 houses for the month, a positive figure given the circumstances and only a shade below the business' usual benchmark for that timeframe.

That's a positive outlook shared by neighbouring firm Kevin Green Real Estate, which is also beginning to see numbers trend in the right direction following the initial shock of the coronavirus.

"Early in the crisis things dropped off a little, which is understandable given the shock in the community at that time," Kevin Green general manager Emma Hutton said.

"But towards end of last week we started to see a return and numbers are steadily getting better with the amount of people looking to transact property.

"It's still very early days, but just to see those numbers increase is positive and that's something I think will continue as we go on."

Prior to the coronavirus outbreak the Mandurah market was seeing its first uptake in years, a trend H&N Perry Real Estate sales director Frank Lawrence is hopeful will resume in the coming months.

"There is no doubt that our market in the Peel region was experiencing an increased demand for the early part of 2020, a welcome initial sign of a recovery," he said.

"It is fair to say that demand has fallen away with the advent of the COVID-19 virus in March, but properties are still selling. Our team sold four properties just last weekend."