Midway through June, construction on Finbar’s Bel-Air in Belmont was completed: 196 apartments, valued at $115.5 million, now added to one of Perth’s most sought-after suburbs. Only a handful of units remain, priced from $595,000.
It is the latest entry in a record spanning more than 30 years, 80 developments and 7600 apartments across the Perth metropolitan area, built through booms, downturns and the recovery that followed the resources slump.
In a city where new apartment supply has become genuinely scarce, Finbar Executive Director and CEO Ronald Chan said each completion created more impact than it used to.
“Every one of these projects gets harder to deliver than the last one, not easier,” he said.
“Costs move, trades become more difficult to secure and timelines get tighter to hold.
“None of that is unique to us but what matters is whether you keep finishing what you start.”
A window for buyers
For a long time, buying an apartment off-the-plan in Western Australia meant paying stamp duty on the full purchase price – the same as buying an established home.
This changed in 2019, when the State Government introduced a concession for off-the-plan purchases, which was extended and expanded several times since, and is now running until June 30, 2028.
Buyers who sign a pre-construction contract for a new dwelling can save up to $50,000 in stamp duty, with the full concession available on dwellings valued at $800,000 or less.
Federal Government settings are also shifting. From July 1, 2027, negative gearing on residential property will be limited to new builds, with the popular deduction for property investors no longer applying to established properties.
Capital gains tax is moving the same way. For gains made after July 1, 2027, investors in new builds get a choice the market has not offered before: stick with the existing 50 per cent discount or opt into a new inflation-based indexation method – whichever works out better for them.
Together, these settings create a window. Buyers purchasing off-the-plan – particularly ahead of construction start – get a stamp duty concession, and for investors, tax treatment is now doubly weighted towards new builds.
“That window won’t stay open indefinitely,” Mr Chan said.
“Buyers who move now are working with settings which won’t be there for everyone who waits.”
Looking ahead
Finbar has $1.2 billion across 980 units due for delivery over the next five years, most of it still ahead of the construction start that determines which stamp duty concession tier applies.
For buyers, that pipeline translates into genuine choice – not just of when to buy, but of where and what kind of apartment to buy into.
Parkside Residences in Rivervale offers 108 units across studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom configurations, valued at $73 million and launching in the September quarter – an entry point suited to first homebuyers and downsizers alike.
Leeder in West Leederville is larger again, consisting of 244 units valued at $266 million, spanning studio through to three-bedroom apartments. Also launching in the September quarter, it gives buyers a wider range of household sizes to build into from the outset.
In South Perth, Lyall Street comprises about 184 units valued at $245 million, with one, two and three-bedroom configurations, due to launch in the June 2027 quarter.
Bowman Street, also in South Perth, is the largest of the four – 295 units valued at $402 million, due to launch in the March 2029 quarter.
Across the four, buyers get a genuine spread – inner and middle-ring suburbs from Rivervale to West Leederville to South Perth, entry-level to premium price points and launch windows stretching from later this year to the end of the decade.
A pipeline built on delivery
Three Finbar developments are also currently under construction – Garden Towers, Riverbank Residences and Palmyra West, which collectively comprise 615 units valued at $515 million and 88 per cent sold.
Garden Towers, the first of the three, is due for completion in October.
And Romeo Applecross – a 155-unit, $192 million development – is more than 55 per cent sold ahead of a rapidly approaching construction commencement in September, with completion due mid-2029.
For a buyer trying to time a purchase against the stamp duty concession and the changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, that spread matters – there is a project being built or entering pre-construction at almost every point across the window these settings remain in place.
It is a pipeline which buyers are already backing twice over.
Finbar’s repeat buyer rate – those who have purchased from the company more than once – has reached 28 per cent this year.
“The market’s tight enough now that people can’t afford to bet on a developer who might not finish,” Mr Chan said.
“Our buyers know buying with us isn’t betting on completion.”
Garden Towers offers contemporary apartment living in the heart of East Perth, combining convenience, connectivity and lifestyle.
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