House prices in Perth have started their upward journey following a strong purchase by first homebuyers, claimed the figures released by the Real Estate Institute of WA.

Alan Bourke from the institute claimed that it is due to grant by the Federal Government to the first home buyers, the prices are skyrocketing. Bourke told, ``The message is, the median has exceeded the figure in 2007 of $475,000 but there's still an enormous amount of correction that has to happen in certain parts of the market in order to get back to the 2007 prices.''

He asked to solve the supply issues for bringing median price back to affordable levels.

The median house price in Perth, according to the WA figures, rose to $480,000 dollars in the last quarter which is even $5,000 more than the prices recoded in December 2007. Regional centers too posted rise in the median price for property during the period.

Prices in the Port Hedland broke the previous record of $615,000 and increased to $685,000, adversely impacting the affordability level of the buyers.