‘People don’t know it exists’: Melbourne suburbs home owners never want to leave

Ivana Bosco moved her young family to St Helena from Preston 35 years ago and has never looked back.

Drawn to its green spaces, schools and access to the city, Bosco knew she’d found the perfect suburb to raise her young family.

St Helena, in Melbourne’s north-east, is among the suburbs home owners don’t want to leave, recording a median hold period of 19.7 years in the 12 months to June, data from CoreLogic has revealed.

A house in neighbouring Yallambie takes a median 17.2 years before being resold, while the median hold period in nearby Eaglemont is 15.2 years.

Bosco and her husband are selling their family home after more than three decades, but the grandparents don’t have any plans to move from St Helena.

“It’s always been for the long haul. We bought the family home, the home that would also accommodate grandchildren, and we’ve done all that. So it’s just time for something smaller,” the 59-year-old hospital administration worker told The Age.

Ivana Bosco is selling her family home in St Helena with plans to downsize in the same suburb.Credit: Chris Hopkins

In the 35 years Bosco has lived in St Helena, she’s only seen a handful of houses on her street put up for sale.

“People come to St Helena to stay – it’s not a four or five-year plan – people that move in are there to stay for the long haul, and when your children grow up, you just move out (to a smaller home),” Bosco said.

“That’s what I’ve really loved about it, that sense of everyone knows each other and where we’ve all become really good friends … there’s a real sense of community.”

CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said tightly held suburbs were usually located in lower-density areas, as opposed to inner-city or prestige markets where homes can change hands more frequently.

“They tend to be around the middle ring to outer ring suburbs, areas where you might find the demographics are probably more slanted towards family style households, rather than heightened portions of group households or single-person households,” Lawless said.

“The personality of these suburbs is probably going to be a little bit more oriented towards peace and quiet, rather than your inner-city markets that might have more social amenity.”

Lawless added these were areas where people had become entrenched in their neighbourhood and were often unmotivated to upgrade or downsize.

Ray White Eltham director Kevin Davy said while he hasn’t seen many houses put up for sale in St Helena, the ones that sell see big results at auction.

“[Houses] that are fully renovated are demanding more money,” he said.

Davy said large block sizes in St Helena, some of which reached up to a quarter acre, were a huge drawcard for families wanting big backyards.

Davy added that ‘out of area’ buyers from the city and western suburbs looking for family homes in Eltham often stumbled across St Helena by accident.

“St Helena is one of those suburbs that sort of gets missed a bit because it’s (next to) Eltham North. We do find that a lot of people don’t know it exists,” Davy said.

Davy said that 10 years ago parts of St Helena were still just paddocks, but that new infrastructure in the suburb has helped drive up the median dwelling value to $1,195,164 – a 143.8 per cent increase in 20 years.

In Melbourne’s west, home owners are reluctant to give up big blocks and large family homes in Keilor Downs and Taylors Lakes, where the median hold periods over the last 12 months were 19.2 and 17.5 years, respectively.

Principal agent at Ray White Taylors Lakes Peter Travlos said many buyers in the 1980s and 90s moved to Taylors Lakes to build their dream homes on large blocks. He added buyers were also drawn to new display homes built in the area 10 to 20 years ago.

Travlos said Taylors Lakes and Keilor Downs offered large family-sized homes, as well as proximity to schools and amenities, at an affordable price point.

“They present substantial value for what people pay,” he said. “Where else would you now find a four-bedroom house on 700 square meters with a pool at under a million dollars?”

The median dwelling value in Keilor Downs has risen by 164.6 per cent over the last 20 years to $760,037. In Taylors Lakes, the median house price has reached $953,044 – up 168.8 per cent in the same period.

Travlos said prices will continue to rise as buyers from Airport West, Keilor East and Essendon look further west for more affordable properties.

“I’ve seen this area grow steadily, and it’s been a sleeping giant for quite a long period … I think it’s finally turned that corner where we’re going to see the median house price get to $1 million in both of these suburbs and just keep growing.”