Wellard, WA 6170Home loan and property guide

Wellard location and character

Wellard is located within the City of Kwinana, adjoining Oldbury, Cooloongup, Baldivis and Bertram. The suburb was named in 1923 and was originally referred to as 13-Mile Camp, part of the Peel Estate. It takes its name from John Wellard, an early settler who owned a farm about 7.5 kilometres from the suburb.

The defining development is The Village at Wellard, a joint venture between the Western Australian Department of Housing and Peet Limited since 2003. It is a 320 hectare mixed-use development that will ultimately accommodate 1,700 households, and is described as Perth's first transit-oriented development on the Perth to Mandurah rail line.

That project transformed the suburb. At the 2021 Census there were 14,127 people living in Wellard, up from 3,246 in 2011, a more than fourfold increase in a decade. Few suburbs in these guides have changed at that pace, and it explains the suburb's young population and very high mortgage share.

Transport and amenity in Wellard

Wellard station is on the Mandurah line, about 37.1 kilometres from Perth by rail, and opened on 23 December 2007 with most of the line. The Mandurah line is 70.8 kilometres long with thirteen stations, operates as a through service with the Yanchep line to the north, and runs south in the median strip of the Kwinana Freeway before diverging for the southernmost six stations.

Rail access is the suburb's structural advantage and the reason the transit-oriented development was located here. Residents can reach the Perth central business district in less than 30 minutes and Mandurah in 20 minutes, and an integrated bus service provides access to the station from the surrounding streets.

By road, the Kwinana Freeway provides the route north to Perth and south to Mandurah. The Village at Wellard includes retail and community facilities, with larger shopping at the Kwinana town centre. Schools operate in the suburb and its neighbours, and this guide does not describe school catchments.

Housing stock in Wellard

Almost all of Wellard's housing dates from the development that began in 2003. The typical dwelling is a modern detached brick and tile family home on an estate lot, built by a volume builder, most with three or four bedrooms and a garage. A small apartment component exists near the station as part of the transit-oriented development.

At the 2021 Census, 4,390 of the 4,609 occupied private dwellings were separate houses, 113 were semi-detached or townhouse dwellings and 107 were flats or apartments, so houses made up 95.2 per cent of occupied homes against 72.3 per cent nationally. Four-bedroom homes numbered 2,612 and three-bedroom homes 1,446, with only 201 two-bedroom dwellings.

Because the stock is recent, major structural defects are less common than in older suburbs, but inspections still consider cracking associated with site works, retaining walls, drainage, and the approval status of patios, pools and extensions added after handover.

Who lives and buys in Wellard

The 2021 Census counted 14,127 residents in Wellard, with a median age of 31 against 38 for Australia and an average household size of 3.0 people, well above the national 2.5. Adults aged 25 to 34 were the largest group at 2,838, followed by 2,642 aged 35 to 44 and 2,191 children aged 5 to 14.

Mortgaged ownership dominates. The Census recorded 2,941 dwellings owned with a mortgage, 1,171 rented and only 414 owned outright, so 64.7 per cent of households with a stated tenure had a mortgage, 25.8 per cent rented and just 9.1 per cent owned outright, against 35.0 per cent with a mortgage nationally.

Median weekly household income was $2,115 against $1,746, median monthly mortgage repayments were $1,902 against $1,863 and median weekly rent was $350 against $375. For a buyer, this is a young family market where nearly two-thirds of households are early in a loan, so budgets are highly sensitive to changes in repayments.

Planning and the transit-oriented development in Wellard

Development is controlled by the City of Kwinana's local planning scheme together with the Residential Design Codes. Because The Village at Wellard is a planned 320 hectare mixed-use development, structure planning governs how the suburb grows, and coding near the station supports higher density than the outer estate streets.

The project will ultimately accommodate 1,700 households, so buyers should check what remains to be built nearby. An adjoining release still under construction affects amenity, and new stock competes with established resales, which a valuer takes into account.

Land title encumbrances imposed by the developer to control design and external appearance may remain registered on titles in a development of this kind, and a settlement agent or conveyancer can explain their present effect before the offer becomes unconditional.

Buying in Wellard under Western Australian contract law

Established houses in Western Australia are normally sold by offer and acceptance. Consumer Protection WA explains that the signed form becomes a binding contract once the seller accepts, and that there is no mandatory cooling-off period, so conditions for finance approval and for inspections need to be written into the offer.

Purchases of vacant land or a house and land package work differently, and are often off-the-plan contracts prepared by the developer, with settlement possible only after Landgate has issued the certificate of title. Consumer Protection WA suggests checking deadlines, sunset clauses, any term allowing the price or specifications to change, soil type and the height of the water table. Transfer duty is assessed by RevenueWA.

Home loan considerations for Wellard property

Modern detached houses on standard lots are the most widely accepted security, and the large number of similar homes gives valuers plentiful comparable sales. That uniformity also makes it easy for a valuer to test an agreed price against near-identical houses nearby, including new homes still being released, so a valuation below the contract price is possible.

With outright ownership at only 9.1 per cent, almost every owner here is borrowing, so lenders mortgage insurance or a place in the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme is commonly part of the funding. A house and land purchase is funded by a construction loan drawn in stages against an as-if-complete valuation, with fencing and landscaping funded from savings.

Lending considerations for Wellard

• Outright ownership of only 9.1 per cent means budgets are highly sensitive to changes in repayments.
• High loan-to-value borrowing is common, so lenders mortgage insurance or the 5% Deposit Scheme is often relevant.
• The development will ultimately hold 1,700 households, so new stock continues to compete with resales.
• Construction loans are drawn in stages and valued on an as-if-complete basis.
• Developer encumbrances controlling design and external appearance may remain registered on titles.

Lender policy differs between institutions and changes over time. The guide to Australian lenders explains how credit policy varies, and the home loan guide sets out the main loan structures.