Every Melbourne suburb’s house and unit median sale price: City hits $1m for first time

Melbourne’s median house sale price has skyrocketed past $1m for the first time. See what every suburb is worth in this ultimate suburb-by-suburb guide.

Melbourne’s median house sale price has skyrocketed past $1m for the first time.

A typical house in the city sold for $1,004,500 in the first three months of 2021 — a record figure — with the median shooting up 8.8 per cent from the previous quarter, according to Real Estate Institute of Victoria data shared exclusively with the Herald Sun.

The rise marks metropolitan Melbourne’s highest quarterly increase for houses since the December quarter in 2009.

There’s been little respite for buyers at auctions. Picture: Nicki Connolly

No. 42 Dover Street, Flemington, sold for $2.34m on March 10.

Experts say while homeowners should be celebrating this result after a rollercoaster 2020, the $1m milestone raises concerns about housing affordability for those trying to break into the market.

East Melbourne was the city’s top performing house market of the quarter, with its median sale price booming 50.5 per cent to $3,912,500.

Growth in sea and tree-change suburbs Chelsea, Carrum, Edithvale and Healesville exceeded 30 per cent as more buyers set their sights on a lifestyle change in 2021, while inner suburbs Windsor, Balaclava and Flemington also soared.

No. 20A Ella Grove, Chelsea, is on the market for $820,000-$900,000 with a May 8 auction date.

Buyers and sellers didn’t waste any time getting back into the market after last year’s extensive lockdowns, with an estimated 35,000 transactions taking place in the past three months alone.

REIV president Leah Calnan said the new figures reinforced the Victorian market’s “remarkable resilience”, which built upon a rapid post-lockdown revival in the December quarter.

“We anticipated we would see the median house price exceed $1m in 2021, but didn’t expect to see it happen so soon,” Ms Calnan said.

She said pent-up demand from the slow spring market, record-low interest rates, government incentives and a lack of available housing stock all contributed to the booming price rise.

Regional Victorian houses also reached a quarterly median value of more than half a million dollars in the three months to March 31, hitting $510,500.

Ms Calnan said affordability and flexible work-from-home arrangements had encouraged buyers to consider buying in outer areas or regional centres.

“Affordability is absolutely a concern, and it’s really important now that the state and federal governments make plans for additional social housing and measures that support first-home buyers,” Ms Calnan said.

She anticipated the market would “gradually settle” in the second half of the year, as fewer transactions traditionally took place during the winter months.

Josh Frydenberg said while there were record numbers of first-home buyers and “the

vast majority” of loans were to owner occupiers, he was “watching” the issue “closely”.

“I’ve spoken to the governor of the Reserve Bank and to the head of APRA,” the Treasurer said.

National Property Buyers Victoria director Antony Bucello said the only way pricing would “calm down” in the coming weeks was if “significantly more stock came on the market”.

“For every property at the moment, there are multiple underbidders who are unsuccessful,” he said.

“Then you’re always going to have your new buyers on top of that.”

No. 12 Valetta Street, Carrum, is listed for auction on May 1 with a price guide of $790,000-$869,000.

The buyer’s advocate said pricing was moving “from week to week” as a result of the fierce levels of competition.

He said buyers were paying well “beyond what comparable sales would suggest is fair and reasonable” in their desperate bids to land a property.

This had forced him to tell some of his clients they had “no chance (at a property) as it’s going to go well beyond their budget”.

“If you’re buying, you’ve got to have a long-term view because if you’re waiting for it to drop, you’ll be waiting forever,” Mr Bucello said.

Metro Melbourne’s median unit sale price jumped 4.8 per cent to $672,500 in the March quarter, with Box Hill, Strathmore and Hampton the biggest risers.

Sarah and Prav Maurice and their two children (Elle, 4 and Beau, 7) are selling their renovated Mentone home amid red-hot conditions. Picture: Tim Carrafa

Sarah and Prav Maurice are hoping to cash in on the market’s surging pricing as they upsize from their Mentone family home after extensive renovations.

The pair have listed their three-bedroom townhouse at 3/1 Lower Dandenong Road with a $780,000-$850,000 price guide, and Ray White Cheltenham director Kevin Chokshi said the home had “all the ingredients” to sell strongly on its May 1 auction.

“All the odds are in favour of sellers at the moment,” Mr Chokshi said.

“The appetite is there, the confidence is quite high and cash is quite cheap and accessible, which are three key things we’re always looking for in the market.”

Mentone was among the suburbs with the highest median increase within the March quarter, as houses jumped 28.1 per cent to $1,375,000.

Mr Chokshi said the area had experienced an influx of inquiries since the pandemic began, with a 20-30 per cent rise in the number of buyers at open for inspections.

House prices in the family’s suburb have jumped 28 per cent in the last quarter. Picture: Tim Carrafa

“I’ve never seen a market like this before and auctions remain the best way to ensure you get the best sale price with the most competition,” he added.

Ms Maurice said the family had noticed the rising market and wanted to “get a foot in the door” for their next property before they were priced out.

She said they successfully snapped up a new home in the area but had experienced the high and lows of trying to buy in an overheated market.

“There was one in particular that we missed and were quite disheartened about, but it was just a matter of waiting for new listings,” Ms Maurice said.

The also pandemic pushed vendors Deepthi and Suraj Varma to upsize from their Reservoir townhouse after feeling cramped stuck at home last year.

“Considering we will be doing more days working from home, we needed to have a home office option and more space,” Ms Varma said.

Suraj and Deepthi Varma with son Ayaan .Picture: Rob Leeson.

“We just bought a bigger home in Glenroy and we were lucky enough to buy now before we were priced out. We just need to sell our place so we can seal the deal.”

The family have listed their two-bedroom townhouse at 2/57 Yarra Street with a $600,000-$650,000 price guide.

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