The Real Estate Institutes for both Western Australia and the Northern Territory have announced that house price growth in the cities of Perth and Darwin is now starting to slow - a development that is seen by many Australian property analysts as a sign that the biggest property boom in the country's history could be nearing an end.

Between March and June the average price of a home in Western Australia's capital Perth rose by a massive 33.9 per cent (a hefty AUS$108,000), taking average property prices in the state to AUS$395,000. Only Sydney currently boasts a more expensive average property price (AUS$523,000). The Northern Territory's capital, Darwin, meanwhile, experienced price rises of 25.1 per cent in this three-month period, taking the average price there to AUS$350,000.

However, recently released figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has shown that in August Darwin and Perth experienced the biggest declines in Australian property interest, and experts expect price increases in Perth to be as low as 6 per cent by the end of the Australian financial year (30th June 2007).

Jason Anderson, a senior analyst with BIS Shrapnel, predicts that Perth's market slowdown could be indicative of the direction of the Australian property market as whole may now head. "We expect the [house price] boom is over and we are looking for price growth to slow a lot. We think that greater evidence of that will come through in the next couple of months," he said.

Clare Martin, the chief minister of the Northern Territory, says that she is pleased that house price growth in Darwin has started to slow, as this should now enable more first time home owners to enter the territory's housing market. "It [rapid house price growth] makes it very difficult for first home owners to get into the market, although it's great for people who own houses," she said. "But what I've always wanted to see in this Territory economy is slow ... well not slow but steady and strong growth in our economy, so to pull back that kind of real rush is a good thing for everyone involved."

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Article published on 18 October 2006