Bendigo, Echuca, Warragul: Where regional Victoria house prices increased the most

The median house price in regional Victoria has skyrocketed by 45 per cent since the start of 2020, but values may be flattening.

Real estate agents across regional Victoria believe property prices may have peaked after record growth over the last two years.

Latest figures from Real Estate Institute of Victoria show the median house price in regional Victoria flattened in the June quarter rising by 1.3 per cent.

The median house price broke through the $600,000 barrier for the first time in regional Victoria rising from $595,000 to $608,000 in the June quarter.

Since the beginning of 2020 the median house price for regional Victoria has risen by 45 per cent from $418,000 to $608,000.

Bendigo was home to suburbs that recorded some of the highest levels of median price growth in the state between March and June.

Flora Hill’s median house price rose by 10.5 per cent from $493,000 to $545,000 and Golden Square recorded a 6.6 per cent increase taking the median house price to $519,246.

However, with increasing interest rates and cost of living, the market is changing with experts tipping prices are near their peak.

Ray White Bendigo principal Roy Somerville said he expected Bendigo property prices to cool after more than two years of staggering growth.

“We have more stock coming on the market and we have seen buyers are a bit slower to act,” he said.

“With that slowness to act increasing it should pull prices down slightly as we get a small correction.

“Generally speaking prices have peaked and we expect them to change slowly.”

West Gippsland towns Warragul, Drouin and Morwell also recorded some of the largest median price growth in the last quarter.

Warragul’s median house price rose by 9.1 per cent, taking it to $654,500 at the end of June.

In Drouin the median house price was $652,500 after a 6.6 per cent increase, while in Morwell there was a 6.4 per cent increase as prices rose from $305,500 to $325,000.

Morwell also recorded a 30 per cent median price increase in the last 12 months.

First National Real Estate Drouin director Shane Candappa expected property prices in West Gippsland to remain steady into spring.

“Two weeks before the federal election and after it, we have seen less buyer urgency, but prices are holding,” he said.

“At the moment buyers are sitting back and waiting to see how the market moves.

“During the pandemic we had a bullish market and buyers were fighting for properties, but that has corrected itself and we are back to a more traditional market.”

“From my point of view interest rate rises might help our market because buyers from the outskirts of Melbourne tend to come this way.

“It is probably more the cost of living at the moment where people are assessing their budgets.”