Melbourne property prices: Find out what your home is worth
Even a pandemic couldn’t stop Melbourne house prices rising in 2020. Search every suburb’s property prices and see what your home could be worth.
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Even a global pandemic couldn’t stop Melbourne house prices rising in 2020.
The city’s median house sale price shot up 8.4 per cent to $900,000 across 12 months, defying predictions of a property bust after coronavirus restrictions shut down the industry.
Mornington Peninsula enclaves and middle and outer ‘burbs Dandenong, Essendon and Seaford proved top price performers for houses and units during the tumultuous year.
The Herald Sun can reveal Real Estate Institute of Victoria price data for every Melbourne suburb, which shows impressive gains on all sides of the city in 2020.
REIV president Leah Calnan said doom and gloom predictions by the major banks of up to 40 per cent price falls were completely wrong, as a lockdown lull was followed by a rapid revival in the December quarter.
“When the pandemic hit it was disappointing to hear so many of the experts come out and quickly diminish the value of the property market and create fear in homeowners,” Ms Calnan said.
“The results today show that while it was challenging to work with an enormous amount of guidelines, the market held up and proved that you can put your money into Victorian property.”
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A wave of sea-changes helped top house price performers Sorrento and Mornington jump 26.7 per cent to a $1.9m median and 23.2 per cent to a $964,000 median across the year, Ms Calnan added.
Advantage Property Consulting director Frank Valentic said suburbs along Port Phillip Bay had gone “gangbusters” in 2020.
“While investors went running, emotional homebuyers were really driving the market … especially families who were looking to upsize,” Mr Valentic said.
“First-home buyers were absolutely smashing the entry-level market too, buying units and apartments with courtyards.”
He said young buyers were purchasing properties that offered slightly more land in Melbourne’s middle ring, after feeling the effects of lockdown.
First-home buyer Sheila Scopis changed her plans of buying an inner-city apartment and secured a large townhouse in Reservoir instead.
“I no longer have to go into the office every day for work, so I figured I’d look for somewhere with more space around Thornbury, Preston and Reservoir,” Ms Scopis said.
“I was surprised to find a townhouse that was actually below my original budget.”
While she found “a few bargains” in her search, she said tough competition meant prices mostly stayed the same.
Blue-chip suburbs Fitzroy North, Port Melbourne, South Melbourne and Hawthorn East were other top house price performers, as well as Coburg and Wheelers Hill.
Units in Brunswick West, Northcote, Glen Iris and North Melbourne also showed impressive price gains.
Melbourne’s apartment market was slower off the mark, with 3.8 per cent annual growth to a $635,000 annual median.
Mr Valentic said an exodus of international students and tourists had caused an oversupply of inner-city apartments that slowed price growth.
MELBOURNE’S TOP ANNUAL PRICE PERFORMERS
(Suburb. Median house price. Percentage increase between Dec 2019 and Dec 2020)
HOUSES
1 SORRENTO $1,900,000 UP 26.7%
2 MORNINGTON $964,000 UP 23.2%
3 FITZROY NORTH $1,631,500 UP 19.3%
4 PORT MELBOURNE $1,705,000 UP 19.2%
5 COBURG $1,130,000 UP 17.6%
6 MOUNT MARTHA $1,283,000 UP 16.3%
7 WHEELERS HILL $1,210,000 UP 16%
8 ESSENDON $1,600,000 UP 15.5%
9 SOUTH MELBOURNE $1,588,000 UP 15.3%
10 HAWTHORN EAST $2,300,000 UP 14.6%
11 BRIGHTON EAST $1,957,000 UP 14.4%
12 MOUNT ELIZA $1,400,000 UP 14.1%
13 PRAHRAN $1,672,000 UP 13.9%
14 YARRAVILLE $1,105,500 UP 12.7%
15 DIAMOND CREEK $845,000 UP 11.7%
16 ELTHAM $1,050,000 UP 11.7%
17 CAULFIELD SOUTH $1,620,000 UP 11.1%
18 PASCOE VALE SOUTH $1,065,000 UP 10.9%
19 RICHMOND $1,402,500 UP 10.9%
20 BLACKBURN $1,433,500 UP 10.5%
UNITS
1 DANDENONG $401,625 UP 23%
2 BRUNSWICK WEST $547,500 UP 19%
3 ESSENDON $627,500 UP 18.6%
4 SEAFORD $575,000 UP 16.6%
5 NORTHCOTE $675,000 UP 16.2%
6 GLEN IRIS $722,500 UP 15.1%
7 NORTH MELBOURNE $591,000 UP 13.7%
8 PRESTON $610,000 UP 13.4%
9 ELSTERNWICK $710,000 UP 11.8%
10 HAWTHORN EAST $674,000 UP 9.6%
11 HAWTHORN $604,000 UP 9.4%
12 MELBOURNE $547,500 UP 9.3%
13 HAMPTON $950,000 UP 9.2%
14 NOBLE PARK $495,000 UP 9%
15 CHELTENHAM $715,000 UP 8.9%
16 MITCHAM $760,000 UP 8.6%
17 MENTONE $727,500 UP 8.4%
18 MALVERN EAST $705,000 UP 7.8%
19 CROYDON $592,500 UP 7.7%
20 BRUNSWICK EAST $574,000 UP 7.4%
Source: Real Estate Institute of Victoria
Note: REIV median price data only takes into account properties that sold during the period, rather than the value of all Victorian properties.
ON THE MOVE
Joe and Kristine Van have high hopes their Craigieburn home will be snapped up quickly as Melbourne’s buying frenzy stretches into the New Year.
They have listed their five-bedroom house at 15 Hampton Street while searching for their next family home.
“We were anticipating that prices would bottom out during the pandemic, but we surprisingly didn’t see the property bust that was predicted to happen,” Mr Van said.
“In some areas, including our suburb, we’ve actually seen prices going up.”
Craigieburn house prices jumped 6.8 per cent in the past 12 months to a $592,000 median.
Ray White Craigieburn selling agent Adrian Prestileo said the suburb was a hot spot in the outer north, and the Vans’ family home was perfectly priced for upsizers and first-home buyers.
“Demand from these groups in the $600,000-$700,000 range is really big at the moment,” Mr Prestileo said.
“High-end properties are also seeing an average number of 10 to 20 groups come through open for inspections.”
The Vans want to move near Moonee Ponds, so they can send their children Jeremiah and Miriam to one of the nearby top-quality high schools.
“It also seems more properties are coming onto the market, which will hopefully help us find something too,” Mr Van said.
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