House prices down by 0.8, or maybe up by 0.4 percent, for 2012

Depending which data you want to go by the average house prices in Perth either dropped by 0.8 percent or increased by 0.4 percent. The Commonwealth Bank data is going with a 0.8 percent drop in Perth property prices whereas RP Data have published a 0.4 percent increase.

Either way you would have been much better off putting your money in the bank on a 4.5 percent term deposit for the year. Plus you would not have had to shell out for any operating or maintenance costs on the property. Plus, if the 0.8 percent decrease is correct then you could now buy the property for about $3,600 less (based on a property costing $450,000 at the start of the year).

On the upside, Perth property did better than property in South Australia or Victoria.

What both RP Data and other leading economic experts, including the Reserve Bank of Australia, agree on is that 2013 is going to be much the same, as is probably 2014 and 2015.

Basically the general advice is that unless you need to buy a house to live in then the next couple of years are probably not the best time to get into property.  The experts mostly all agree that the general trend forecast is downwards compared to fixed term interest deposits.