High value western suburbs houses on sale

The Department of Housing is offering for sale nine properties valued at more than $10million in Perth's western and coastal suburbs.

Funds from the sale of the properties in Mount Claremont, Mosman Park and North Beach will be used to begin building or buying approximately 25 more social housing dwellings over the coming 12 months.

Housing and Works Minister Troy Buswell said the State Government was doing what it could to reach its aspirational target of building an additional 20,000 additional dwellings by 2020.

"This program has already shown that we can use the proceeds from the sale of one high value house to secure up to eight additional dwellings," Mr Buswell said.

"The Liberal-National Government set a goal last December of securing 20,000 additional dwellings by 2020 - innovative policies like this reflect how determined we are to achieve that target.

"In addition to our high value policy, we are undertaking one of the biggest social housing construction programs ever seen in this state."

The Minister said getting the best value for money out of the investment in existing social housing stock was a priority of the scheme.

"Older properties in some suburbs have increased in value to such a point that the decision to sell is fairly obvious," he said.

"Money from these sales will be used to build or buy more housing in a range of suburbs for people on low incomes.

"This will ensure the policy of trying to provide a sustainable mix of social housing across the metropolitan area continues, even though some of these expensive properties are sold."

The proceeds of the sale of a property in Cottesloe last month have already been committed to the construction of a total of eight social housing dwellings.

The $1.4million will help fund six two-bedroom units for seniors in Lancelin and a further two family homes in Dianella.

The Department of Housing defines a high value property as one valued at twice the prevailing metropolitan median house price.

In the June 2009 quarter the median price for Perth was $445,000 making the high value indicator figure about $890,000.

Mr Buswell said he had asked the department to continually assess the make-up and management of its housing stock.

"Managing a portfolio of some 40,000 houses is a major undertaking, and the State Government is very keen to see that the community gets the best value for its investment," he said.

"The department now has a high-level strategic asset management group to ensure the best use of this significant community asset."

The properties announced for sale in this group will be advertised in the weekend press.