A major development offering almost 100 new homes has been completed in one of Perth’s most sought-after coastal suburbs.

The North Fremantle Serai project has come to life after eight years of planning, helping ease WA’s housing crunch amid record demand and tight supply..

Boutique developer Megara delivered the seven-storey project, featuring 87 apartments and 11 townhouses. It is already approaching 90 per cent sold.

Megara director Jamie Clarke said they began selling “off the plan” prior to construction, with almost all sales going to owner-occupiers rather than investors.

“We’ve seen strong uptake because our market is predominantly downsizers, and local downsizers.

People within a 5km radius of the project would be the majority of our sales. I think there’s maybe one investor in the project,” he said.

“It’s a real community feel. You have the North Fremantle community, but then you’re getting this community within the project itself, and there’s lots of nice spaces for them to socialise without having to go too far.”

Overlooking both the Swan River and the Indian Ocean, Serai is on McCabe Street with a unique viewpoint and luxury facilities in the heart of North Fremantle.

Residents have access to shared amenities including a heated pool, gym, outdoor firepit, dining spaces and an outdoor cinema. The complex is also close to public transport and quality hospitality options.

This project comes at a significant time for WA’s housing market, where Mr Clarke said increased construction costs are making it difficult to deliver higher-end housing intended for owner-occupiers.

“There’s a lot of competition in the construction space at the moment because of all the social housing and government housing projects, as well as the infrastructure projects,” he said.

“It would be difficult to deliver another project of this type right now. Even if you started a project, you’re still not completing that for another 2 1/2 years, so there’s not a lot of new apartment stock coming to market.”

Heightened construction costs, supply chain issues and labour shortages are also pricing first home buyers out of the housing market.

“You just can’t expect first home buyers to pay what’s needed to justify a new project at the moment. That’s why in the private sector it’s difficult to do the stock that suits the lower end of the housing market,” Mr Clarke said.

However, bringing any new stock into the market still allows for movement and creates spaces for young buyers.

“Our space is the higher-end apartment market. But if you get people, particularly downsizers, moving out of their bigger homes into apartments, then that’s freeing up their homes for other people to move into,” he said.

“You’re essentially adding more beds to the market, and it’s going to satisfy someone, which then creates opportunities for other people.”

Looking towards WA’s housing future, Mr Clarke said medium density housing was crucial.

“Medium density is needed in a variety of locations. Sensible planning is required to utilise your existing infrastructure, and we’re seeing developments within proximity of the train system being quite important,” he said.

“I think we’re going to be supply-constrained for some time. While we’re seeing an increase in projects starting, we don’t see it as being enough to satisfy the demand of the market for the types of projects that we deliver.”

Serai’s final release of 10 apartments is starting to be sold now. The remaining two-bedroom dwellings start at $1.5 million and three-bedrooms apartments costing upwards of $2m.

“We’ve had great feedback from buyers as they’ve started to move in over the last few weeks. Giving people a new home to move into can be really rewarding,” Mr Clarke said.

Megara has a few more projects in the pipeline, with a similar development on the coast in Sorrento due for completion late 2026.