Victoria’s sizzling beachside suburbs: Top markets for price growth

Houses in Victoria’s hottest beachside postcodes have gained as much as a million dollars in value in the past year, with one region ranking among the nation’s strongest markets.

No. 10 Danina Court, Rosebud, sold for $3.492m.

Houses in Victoria’s sizzling beachside suburbs have gained as much as a million dollars in value in the past year, with one region ranking among the nation’s strongest markets.

An “unprecedented” purple patch for the Mornington Peninsula has driven prices up more than 40 per cent annually in Fingal, Blairgowrie and Portsea, according to new PropTrack research.

A typical house in the latter suburb is now worth $1m more than at the end of 2020, at $3.4m, while Fingal and Blairgowrie’s medians jumped half a million dollars to $1,862,500 and $1.55m.

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House medians in St Andrews Beach, Rye, Balnarring, Balnarring Beach, Rosebud, Capel Sound and Mt Martha also rose more than 32 per cent, with Melbourne’s top 10 beachside suburbs for price growth all on the Peninsula.

“There has been a push towards lifestyle regions since the onset of the Covid crisis, and beach areas have benefited the most,” PropTrack economist Paul Ryan said.

“For Australians, the beach is the No. 1 lifestyle amenity.

“The places with the highest price and demand growth in 2020 and 2021 were commutable to the city, … like the Mornington Peninsula and places around Geelong.”

Queenscliff had regional Victoria’s biggest annual median house price gain, rising 48 per cent to $1.35m, PropTrack found.

Gippsland’s Lake Tyers Beach came next at 39 per cent, followed by Jan Juc, Silverleaves on Phillip Island, and Apollo Bay.

No. 54 Gellibrand St, Queenscliff, sold for $2.5m.

Buyer demand for houses also shot up annually by 186.6 per cent in Portland North and more than 90 per cent in neighbouring Kilcunda and Dalyston, and City of Warrnambool town Dennington. This is based on average views per listing on realestate.com.au.

Of Melbourne's beachside suburbs, Cape Schanck had the biggest jump in demand at 69 per cent, with Dromana, Flinders and Sandringham close behind.

Mr Ryan said the trend towards working from home and the desire for lifestyle perks in the absence of holidays had spurred strong seaside home sales.

He tipped continued buyer demand and price gains in 2022, but not at the same level of the past two years.

“Financing conditions are likely to be slightly more difficult, … and the incredible price growth we’ve seen means that momentum can’t be maintained,” he said.

No. 56 The Ridge Rd, Fingal, sold for $1.86m.

No. 10 Bruce Rd, Silverleaves, sold for $605,000.

Belle Property Rosebud and Dromana director Grant McConnell said he had never experienced a stronger Peninsula market than in the past year, also attributing the boom to the impact of Covid.

“All these people were working from home thinking, ‘why do I need to spend $2m-$3m to live near the CBD? We might have a sea change’,” he said. “All of a sudden, homes that were worth $1m went to $1.2m.”

No. 9 Wimbledon Court, Portsea, sold for $8.3m.

The dominant buyer group on the Peninsula changed from holiday home buyers to permanent home buyers, with as many as 12 bidders competing at some auctions.

Mr McConnell highlighted the runaway $3.492m sale of 10 Danina Court, Rosebud, in which nine bidders pushed the price well beyond the $2.1m reserve.

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