Perth property on the slide as sydney steams ahead

Perth's staggering drop in property prices has been laid bare with figures released today showing the city's median price is now lagging almost $50,000 behind Sydney.

Prices in Perth threatened to top those in Australia's biggest city in the wake of the global financial crisis, which hit in October 2008.

The city's median price for houses and units was just 2.3 per cent lower than that of Sydney through February and March 2009. But after a huge downturn, Perth's prices are now 18 per cent lower, according to statistics released today by RP Data-Rismark.

For houses the price gap is even more stark. Over the 12 months to April this year, Sydney's house prices rose 0.5 per cent to $590,000 while Perth dropped 7.3 per cent to $481,825 - a gap of almost $110,000.

Source: SMH.com.au