ACTIVITY in WA’s property market has reached its lowest point in 12 years, but new-home sales are increasing.

The total number of documents lodged with Landgate — a barometer for total sales across new and established homes — was down 2 per cent last month and down 12 per cent from the same time in 2015.

Victoria Park real estate agent Laurie Kelly said the past few years had been the toughest since he started in the industry in 1971 but believed there were early signs of change.

Mr Kelly added the rental market was just as difficult.

Seller Adam Lee said his $549,000 Redcliffe home had been on the market for 60 days without an offer, even though negotiations for the four-bedroom property started $20,000 below the bank valuation.

“We have been getting great feedback but no one is in a hurry to make a decision,” he said. The Housing Industry Association new-home sales report, a survey of Australia’s biggest volume builders, recorded a lift in sales for WA during November.

“The trend decline in new-home sales in the State may have found its floor,” executive director John Gelavis said.

But figures for the November 2016 quarter showed new-home sales were down 18 per cent compared with the same period in 2015.