Geelong agents dominates regional Victoria’s top-price sellers
Geelong’s top-selling agents by highest average price reveals how far the region’s high-end real estate market has moved. See who makes regional Victoria’s top 20.
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The top sellers in the Geelong region’s high-end real estate market have been revealed, with top sellers notching an average sale price of up to $3m.
Sixteen of the top 20 agents with the highest average sale price are from the coastal hot spots surrounding Geelong, from the tip of the Bellarine Peninsula to the Great Ocean Road.
The region’s top agent, with the second-highest average sale price in regional Victoria of $3m, is Bellarine Property’s Ben Roberts.
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The list was compiled using sales data reported to and published on realestate.com.au.
It’s a reflection of how far the top end of the luxury real estate market has reached over the past decade.
Mr Roberts handled the Bellarine Peninsula’s most expensive sale last year, including the $6.8m record for a rare house on a double block at Orton St, Ocean Grove, along with many of the top sales above the coastal strip.
But marrying luxury homes with high net worth buyers isn’t always that simple, as Mr Roberts revealed some of the most expensive sales have come after years of showing a potential buyer through homes.
“A lot of people think that people who are wealthy make decisions without much care or thought but my experience is they are incredibly measured, incredibly calm about it, and it takes a long time for them to make decisions,” Mr Roberts said.
“It’s come about through good relationships over the journey and understanding the space and working with people.
“I’m not the most polished person in the world, but they understand when I’m explained the lay of the land, they can see that I’m not just stating things but that I understand it and they feel comfortable moving forward.”
Mr Roberts said the top end of Ocean Grove was a lifestyle space, but buyers still wanted to know they were making a sound investment.
“No-one’s buying a house for probably even above $2 million because they sold last Saturday, with a 60-day settlement and it’s day 53 and they are about to have their fourth kid.
“They’re buying either from a lifestyle property or for a luxury property or for an upgrade and all of those decisions made measurably and I think I have a good ability to give people comfort in that space. And it probably just comes back to the knowledge.”
Great Ocean Properties director Marty Maher encounters a lot of high net work individuals as he goes about his work in Great Ocean Road towns such as Anglesea, Aireys Inlet and Lorne.
But relationships and a reputation built up over 30 years also tends to ensure a lot of high-end properties are referred his way. In the past 12 months, his average sale price reached more than $2.85m.
“For a lot of those vendors, they’re big assets and they want to know that it’s going to be handled correctly,” he said.
Mr Maher said the two highest sales he’s had have been to successful farmers.
Medicos and successful business people are among the buyers in this market.
“It also comes down to their appetite for upgrades or renovations. Some people have an appetite for that and others want it to be perfect. And to be honest, the ones that want to perfect don’t often find what they want.”
But the luxury segment on the Great Ocean Road also attracts enormous attention from aspiration buyers.
“People look at all those property and architecture shows and are absolutely fascinated with real estate, but it gets amplified as you get to the pointy end (of the market).
“Sometimes you’ve got to navigate that jungle to get to the right person.
“It’s interesting that some of the highest sales I’ve had have been the simplest transactions in the end. There have been robust negotiations between parties, but often it’s one good buyer that you need that you have quite frank dealings with so that both parties know where they stand and they get the confidence proceed.”
Tim Carson, director of Torquay’s McCartney Real Estate, is the only agent to feature in the top 20 for volume and average price.
“I’m extremely lucky that I actually work five minutes from where I live and I get to meet some absolutely terrific people on the way in vendors and purchasers.
“It’s a bonus that I get to sell some remarkable properties. We’re lucky that we’ve got the landscape here. We’ve got seven beach frontages in Torquay.”
Mr Carson said the homes are built to make the most out of the location, even factoring in the winds whipping off the ocean, with a lot of the engineering beneath the homes adding to the value of many striking coastal homes.
Agents with average sale prices above $2m included Oslo Property director Josh McDonald, RT Edgar Barwon Heads agents Candace Smith and Spencer Lippino, and Kerleys Coastal Point Lonsdale director Damian Cayzer.
Veteran Lorne agent Ian Stewart, from Great Ocean Road Real Estate, was number six on the list, joining fellow Surf Coast agents James Worssam, Darcy Bennett, Kellie Saddington and Mim Atkinson.
Newtown agent Dale Whitford was the only agent based in urban Geelong.
Originally published as Geelong agents dominates regional Victoria’s top-price sellers