Onslow housing demand on the rise

Statistics from the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia have placed the median house price in Onslow at over $900,000.

A property consisting of two quarter acre blocks, which had been bought in 2002 for $50,000, sold in April this year for a combined total of $2 million.

A four-bedroom, one-bathroom home on Clarke Place sold for $1.3 million in June this year.

Ray White Exmouth director and Onslow manager Timothy Grose said in Onslow the majority of the housing market was based around the Wheatstone project.

"BHP has been in Onslow for several years prior to Chevron … so prices had started to rise," he said.

"Majority of the market sentiment now though is obviously based around the Wheatstone project … there are still many gas discoveries all around the Onslow region, so it looks as though Onslow will be a major LNG destination for years to come."

Onslow Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Geoff Herbert said housing prices in Onslow had increased an average of $100,000 a year for the last 10 years.

He said while some had managed to make good profits, like the $1 million sale of a property after it was bought for $41,000 10 years ago, most of the money was being taken out of town.

"People are making these huge profits and then moving away so it's unsustainable," he said.

"It's just FIFO companies buying the houses, putting single guys in them and then they don't add to community.

"The State Government said they didn't want Onslow to become a FIFO town, but that's exactly what's happening."

Mr Herbert said the State Government needed to make Onslow attractive for workers who want to bring their families to the town and live permanently.

Mr Grose said the recent announcement of 220 new residential lots in Onslow would help ease the housing pressure, but demand was still on the rise.

"It will go some way to assisting with the supply issues, but demand is still not expecting to peak until peak construction at Wheatstone, (which is) still a good year and a half away," he said.

"So it will be interesting to see the take up and, more importantly, the actual delivery of these blocks."