How much is your suburb worth? Top median house and unit price gains revealed

Victorian houses have outearned their owners in the past year. Take look at the top median house price and unit gains in the last 12 months. SEARCH BY SUBURB.

Mathew Lane and his wife Ashlee built their Horsham home only 12 months ago, and are now upsizing. They are pictured with their three children, Imogen (4), Clara (2) and Romy (5 months), and dogs Marley, a stag hound and Milla, a fox terrier. Picture: Mark Stewart

Victorian houses have outearned their owners in the past year, but a regional boom has left a stalling Melbourne market in its wake so far in 2022.

Exclusive new Real Estate Institute of Victoria figures show the $1.1m median Melbourne house gained a phenomenal $167,500 (18 per cent) in the past year — about $458.90 a day for 12 months to March 31.

The huge growth comes despite the city’s typical house price falling $3500 (0.3 per cent) in the first quarter of 2022.

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While big annual gains in the big smoke beat regional Victoria in pure dollar terms, an incredible 26.7 per cent ($125,500) lift has the $595,000 typical home in country towns and cities punching far above their weight.

And they’re still growing, with the typical regional house price gaining $23,000 (3.8 per cent) since January 1.

REIV president Adam Docking said it was “very comforting” to see regional Victoria doing well, as more people were “falling in love with the regions”.

In regional Victoria’s top performing suburb for house sales, Point Lonsdale, 7 Limpet Circuit is on the market for $1.495m.

The stylish interior at the three-bedroom pad in Point Lonsdale.

And in Irymple, the third top performing regional suburb, 13 Marita Court is up for $545,000-$595,000.

Torquay also made PropTrack’s top ten. 3 Lightwood St has a $1.25m-$1.35m price guide.

“With the city being back open, it has reminded people what they don’t like about traffic jams and things like that, and people are also still a bit nervous about being close contacts,” Mr Docking said.

In the top-performing regional suburbs, owners made a monumental $505.95 a day. It equates to $21.08 an hour, higher than the national minimum wage of $20.33 according to the Fair Work Ombudsman.

The biggest regional earner was Point Lonsdale, on the Bellarine Peninsula, where the median house price soared $1636 a day (67.2 per cent) to reach $1.485m.

Kerleys Coastal Real Estate managing director Damian Cayzer said after selling in Point Lonsdale for 30 years and living there his entire life, the current market was “as busy as I’ve seen”.

“The market is certainly on the move and price growth is a result of an increase in the quantity of people moving to the coast,” Mr Cayzer said.

“At the same time, the level of supply has reduced as many holiday home owners cherish their beach house even more as a family retreat or meeting place following Covid.”

Horsham and Irymple were the next best in regional Victoria, edging out Melbourne’s top suburb; Rye on the Mornington Peninsula; which soared 48 per cent from $807,500 to $1.195m in the past year.

In metropolitan Melbourne, Rye was the top performing suburb for house sales, with houses like 37 Nerissa St hitting the market with a $1.28m-$1.38m price range.

Mt Martha ranked No. 2 in Melbourne, with houses like 12 Balcombe Drive listed for $1.8m-$1.98m.

And the best performing suburb for unit sales was Frankston. 54/85 Ashleigh Ave for example, is listed for $530,000-$580,000.

After Rye, Melbourne’s next best performances were from Rosebud, up 32 per cent, and Kilsyth, 25 per cent.

Buyer’s advocate Nicole Jacobs said strong gains away from the centre of Melbourne were likely due to people “reassessing what they wanted in life”.

She added that many were also looking to renovated properties as construction delays remained prevalent — putting tradies in a particularly good position.

“We’re actually seeing more builders coming up to buy, because they can estimate the time to build or renovate more accurately,” she said.

PropTrack economic research executive manager Cameron Kusher said search activity on realestate.com.au and a number of other metrics indicated home price growth would continue to slow in Melbourne — and regional areas might not be far behind.

“They will probably follow the trajectory that’s happening in Melbourne now,” Mr Kusher said.

Mathew and Ashlee Lane have $995,000 hopes for their Horsham home. Picture: Mark Stewart

HORSHAM BOOMING

A boom in regional property prices has put tradies like concreter and landscaper Mathew Lane in demand and on top of the market.

Mr Lane and his wife Ashlee bought their 1309sq m Horsham block for $130,000 in 2020, according to CoreLogic.

They’ve since built a four-bedroom house at 30 Dellar Crescent, where they live with their children, Imogen, 4, Clara, 2, and Romy, 5 months, as well as their dogs Marley and Milla.

But with lavish new builds in high demand they have the pad listed for $995,000.

“I think Covid caused the spike, because everyone has come out of the city,” Mr Lane said.

Harcourts Horsham principal Mark Clyne said after “flatlining” for eight years the regional city’s growth hadn’t been uniform, with investors driving former commission homes from about $120,000 to $250,000 in a year.

“I have never seen so much money pumped into the city’s $800,000-plus range,” Mr Clyne said.

“And it’s the tradies that are buying a house that a doctor or accountant used to buy.”

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