Regional towns in Western Australia are outperforming the nation, including its capital cities, when it comes to house price growth – but one town in particular is outpacing the rest.

Across the state, regional areas recorded an average dwelling price growth of 2.1 per cent – the highest average growth out of all states and territories and on par with South Australia, the latest Cotality Regional Market Update shows.

Regional Australia’s housing market has continued to outperform the capital cities, despite a broad slowdown that has seen value growth in almost every major regional market slow or decline in the past three months, that report found.

But Kalgoorlie-Boulder recorded an average dwelling price growth of 6.4 per cent, second only nationally to Port Pirie in South Australia.

Professionals Platinum agent Jess Chopping, who covers the Goldfields city, said the market had not slowed down in the slightest over the past year.

“There’s a strong demand and we are getting sometimes three to six offers on one property that’s putting pressure on prices to grow,” she said.

“We’ve got investors competing with first-home buyers.”

Chopping said it was an “extremely attractive market” for first-home buyers because it was much more affordable than other regional towns and Perth, despite the continued growth.

“You’ve got a lot of the younger generation here currently working, and because the cost of living’s so high and rents are so high, the gradual and natural steps for them is to now purchase and move into their own home,” she said.

“We’re an affordable place to buy, so you’re not competing with metro prices that are significant with a really high deposit requirement. It’s actually just more achievable for them in our region to be able to buy a home.”

Chopping said, on the other side of the coin, investors were attracted to Kalgoorlie because rents were high enough for the region to be positively geared.

She said there had been a “significant and sustained reduction” in the vacancy rate across the town, meaning demand was increasing.

“We don’t have any new developments happening, so we’ve got a stock shortage, but we’ve still got plenty of interest and plenty of buyers in our marketplace,” she said.

“There are very few properties available at the moment to lease, and that is certainly putting pressure on rents.

“There’s not a lot out there at all, and it’s just tightening things up from all angles.”

The strongest increase in rents nationally in the three months to July were recorded in Albany at 3 per cent, followed by Toowoomba at 2.9 per cent and Kalgoorlie-Boulder at 2.8 per cent.

Kalgoorlie-Boulder was also Australia’s fastest-selling regional market, with a median selling time of 11 days, according to Cotality, followed by Albany at 16 days and Geraldton at 18 days.

Chopping said while she agreed properties spent an average of 11 days on the market, oftentimes they were selling in five to seven days instead.

Cotality Australia head of research Gerard Burg said some of the momentum in the previously high-performing south-west areas of WA has started to ease as the state’s strongest growth became increasingly concentrated in more affordable regional centres.

“Growth across Western Australia remains the strongest in the country as markets with buoyant local economies and relatively affordable housing markets are proving more resilient as buyer demand becomes increasingly selective,” he said.

“We’re no longer seeing growth concentrated in the lifestyle markets that benefited most from spillover demand we saw during the market’s prolonged upswing.

“Instead, buyers are gravitating towards regional centres where their dollar stretches further and local demand is supporting housing values.”