Victoria’s highest price growth and most in-demand suburbs for spring
Outer northeast and outer east suburbs dominate the list of top Victorian suburbs in demand for houses coming into Spring. SEE TOP 20 HOUSES AND UNITS
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“Lifestyle” suburbs remain Melbourne’s most in demand despite mammoth price gains over the past two years and the city being open again.
Outer northeast and outer east suburbs dominate the top 20 suburbs for demand for houses on realestate.com.au, latest PropTrack data shows.
Lower Plenty, Warrandyte and North Warrandyte crowned the list, while Collingwood made the top five as buyers return to the cafes and bars of the inner city.
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Middle Park, Frankston South and Carlton North have been the most in demand for units, while in regional Victoria the Geelong region has far and away the hottest property.
Seven of Melbourne’s top 20 suburbs for house price growth over the past 12 months were on the Mornington Peninsula – where homeowners were the biggest Covid-boom beneficiaries.
Real Estate Institute of Victoria president Richard Simpson said the shift to lifestyle – more space and larger homes – was here to stay in the work from home era.
“You get more bang for your buck in the outer suburbs and as people work from home more they can buy a bigger house further out and travel into work a few days a week,” he said.
“The overall last quarter Melbourne median house price came down by about 2.9 per cent but outer Melbourne bucked the trend and actually increased last quarter.”
PropTrack economist Angus Moore said “more peripheral areas of Melbourne” had experienced really strong demand over the past two and a half years.
“And that’s continuing to be the case,” he said.
“We’re still seeing prices in outer parts of Melbourne grow more quickly than inner parts, so there is likely to continue to be some of that extra demand for outer suburbs and a bit more space this spring.”
He said beyond this season, the appeal of inner Melbourne would strengthen again.
“Some of the reasons that people like being near a city are coming back,” he said.
“We’re starting to see international migration return, many of them are students and they will look to rent in the inner city, that makes it a bit more attractive for investors to be buying in the inner city in a way that they really haven’t for much of the past couple years.
“And as we return to the office, living in the inner city becomes more attractive again as well.”
Jellis Craig Armadale director Carla Fetter said there was a “real appetite out there from buyers” who were salivating for more stock.
“The family home market is particularly strong at the moment and the really good single-fronted houses as well are really appealing to a number of groups,” Ms Fetter said.
“Buyers are feeling very frustrated at the moment, there’s not a lot of supply and I do see come September, October, November, that’s when we are going to have some really good homes to offer these buyers.”
Property Home Base director Julie De-Bondt Barker said well-presented properties with “very little renovation to do” in good locations were still getting good results.
“Anything that’s a tick against the property will cost you more now than it ever would have,” Ms De-Bondt Barker said.
“And I think renovator delights that were pretty popular are less popular now because of the building costs and the supply problem with building materials and a shortage of tradies.”
She said a lot of first-home buyers were holding back to see what happened with interest rates, following four months of consecutive rises and more on the horizon.
“A lot are just sitting back and waiting and thinking it through right now,” she said.
But Mr Simpson said buyers overall were beginning to adjust to the rising rate environment and there had been an uptick in Melbourne’s clearance rate in recent weeks.
“Spring’s going to be a real test for the market, there will be more stock for sale, no doubt, so more choice,” he said.
He expected price growth to remain flat for the rest of the year.
LOOKING EAST
Elaine and Stephen have just bought their second home in Ringwood East, one of the hottest markets for unit demand and supply in the outer east.
The couple were initially looking around Melbourne’s northeast, but Elaine said it “seemed like everything was going a bit crazy” and there was more choice when they looked a touch further south.
“We checked out the shopping centre and there are a lot of hospitals and schools as well — what more could you ask for in a suburb?,” she said.
They bought a three-bedroom house, having previously owned a two-bedroom townhouse in Coburg North, before renting in Pascoe Vale.
MOST IN-DEMAND SUBURBS
Rank, Suburb, Potential Buyers per listing relative to median (%), Suburb median price
Regional Victoria — houses
1, Geelong, 82.1%, $890,000
2, Herne Hill, 66.8%, $765,000
3, East Geelong, 63.6%, $945,000
4, Manifold Heights, 59.0%, $1,072,500
5, Trentham, 50.0%, $1,007,500
6, Jan Juc, 44.3%, $1,400,000
7, Thomson, 44.2%, $625,000
8, North Geelong, 43.5%, $663,750
9, Waurn Ponds, 41.8%, $790,000
10, Quarry Hill, 40.8%, $540,000
11, Ventnor, 40.0%, $862,500
12, Maldon, 39.9%, $706,000
13, Mount Helen, 39.2%, $660,000
14, Clunes, 39.0%, $515,000
15, Wandana Heights, 38.2%, $1,027,000
16, Yackandandah, 37.2%, $730,000
17, Indented Head, 35.3%, $885,000
18, East Bendigo, 32.0%, $545,000
19, Queenscliff, 31.0%, $1,662,629
20, Woodend, 27.5%, $950,000
Regional Victoria — units
1, Newtown, 121.1%, $660,000
2, Herne Hill, 108.6%, $389,999
3, Hamlyn Heights, 93.9%, $550,000
4, Geelong West, 86.4%, $640,000
5, Ocean Grove, 81.5%, $872,000
6, Newcomb, 70.6%, $530,000
7, Whittington, 68.1%, $430,250
8, Kennington, 64.8%, $440,000
9, Flora Hill, 60.6%, $377,500
10, Torquay, 53.8%, $970,000
11, Grovedale, 43.4%, $515,000
12, Belmont, 42.3%, $560,000
13, Bell Park, 38.8%, $530,000
14, Highton, 36.9%, $561,000
15, Geelong, 35.4%, $655,000
16, Wendouree, 33.2%, $350,000
17, Golden Square, 30.9%, $417,500
18, Cowes, 9.1%, $590,000
19, Echuca, 3.6%, $355,000
20, West Wodonga, 0.8%, $306,000
*Pick up the complete PropTrack Spring Market Report in the Saturday Herald Sun and and Sunday Herald Sun this weekend.
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