Geelong suburbs where buyers get the best deals on homes

More Geelong homebuyers are boosting their purchasing power by securing discounts on Geelong properties amid an uplift in people searching for ‘distressed’ listings.

PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty.

Buyers secured discounts on the initial price on half the homes that sold in Geelong in June, exclusive new data shows.

The PropTrack figures show a 79 per cent lift in Geelong, year on year, in the share of properties that sold for less than their asking price.

The data shows 50 per cent of properties went for below their asking price, while 45.76 per cent of homes sold within the range.

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Just 4.24 per cent of homes sold for more, the data revealed.

The figures correlate with a more than 5.4 per cent annual downturn in home prices.

The latest market trends data from PropTrack reveals the median vendor discount in Geelong was just 0.6 per cent, showing sellers weren’t having to concede much ground.

The top Geelong suburbs for discounting included Manifold Heights, Geelong, East Geelong, Herne Hill and Norlane, while Lorne, Portarlington, Queenscliff, St Leonards and Barwon Heads were hot spots with discounting up to 8.2 per cent on the coast.

30 Lascelles Ave, sold for $829,000 after initially being listed for $849,000 to $869,000.

The 3.5 per cent median vendor discount in Manifold Heights equalled more than $41,000, when calculated from the suburbs’s $1.18m median house price.

PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty said after being one of the best performing property markets during the pandemic, things were returning to normal in Geelong.

“What’s pretty remarkable is that only 4 per cent of properties were selling for more than the asking price. That shows there’s a greater tendency for properties to be listed above what buyers are willing to pay,” Ms Flaherty said.

Surging demand during the pandemic, combined with record low interest rates, saw buyers pay inflated prices above fair value to secure properties, sometimes without a physical inspection

34 Lascelles Ave, Manifold Heights, sold for $852,000 after initially being offered with a price guide above $900,000.

“What’s happened to Geelong property prices over the past year are only down 5.4 per cent. Now, if you consider that interest rates have decreased borrowing capacity for the average buyer by about 30 per cent, it shows a certain amount of resilience in that market.

“People are more nervous off the back of interest rates being so much higher. People are more constrained in their budgets, your cost of living has gone up, so overwhelmingly, what we’re seeing is that people are being more cautious and this isn’t just buyers and sellers as well.”

Ms Flaherty said a lot of the headlines around the market downturn didn’t reflect reality, though it did spark a lot of people searching for bargains.

“I think that media headlines have played a really big role in people’s perception of how the market is performing, because the reality is the market has actually proved to be incredibly resilient against the backdrop of all these interest rate rises.

“On realestate.com.au, we actually saw a massive increase in people searching for mortgagee and receivership, so distressed sales.

Geelong buyers advocate Tony Slack said homebuyers were already being more budget conscious as their borrowing power reduced.

“But to date if you look at what’s actually happened with property prices, even those homeowners who unfortunately are put into a situation where they are forced to release their property for sale, the prices those properties are achieving are still pretty good.”

Geelong buyers advocate Tony Slack said most agents were now pricing according to market sentiments and general vendor expectations.

“Buyer sentiment is where does the price need to be so we can see some people turning up to have a look through.”

Mr Slack said keeping abreast of recent sales was the best way to see whether a seller may have room to move on price.

“Simply having the facts – if you’ve got a really good handle on the market and really good idea on comparable sales and expectations from buyers versus vendors.

“If you’ve got a home that needs significant renovation work, you’re the buyer, your taking the risk, whereas in the past buyers really haven’t had to take any risk.

“On some properties the banks are wanting a bigger buffer, so serviceability has gone up. So there’s a myriad of things that makes it a buyers market now as opposed to vendors market.

“So if you have a vendor that perhaps the expectations aren’t in line with reality, you’ve got a far better chance of a better outcome if you’re armed with all the information.”

Originally published as Geelong suburbs where buyers get the best deals on homes