Malaga - I think a Mandurah recovery is a pie in the sky prophecy. City of Rockingham's property market is a proxy for the iron ore spot price in my opinion, should the wheels on the trucks keep turning which I think they will for 2013, Rockingham's market will continue to hold its own.
As for your higher end of town predictions I don't agree, people are hoarding cash, paying down debt and investor confidence isn't there caused by a period of 5 years with no capital gains in real terms for Perth.
Did you see Moody's downgrade on WA's State Debt today. I read in another article Figures show the state's mortgage - state debt - will rise from just under $4 billion in 2008 to a staggering $24.7 billion in 2015-16. that is truly scary... Last time I checked we are around 20 billion now, say 19 billion. Now thats 15 billion in 4-5 years (2008-2012).
Regarding my prediction, I don't think Perth's overall market will appreciate more than inflation this year, probably -3 to +3% shift. 2014 is when the fun begins...
