Aug 29, 2019
Regional Victoria is the stand-out market in
Australian real estate.
For the past two years many of the strongest growth markets in
Australia have been found in Regional Victoria.
The regional centres of Victoria continue to provide a series
of buoyant markets where demand is strong, vacancies are low and
prices are growing.
While Melbourne markets, generally speaking, have been
trending down, regional markets outside the state capital have been
heading in the opposite direction.
The uplift in Regional Victoria was led initially by regional
cities and towns closest to Melbourne. Suburbs in the City of
Greater Geelong experienced strong price growth for 2-3 years (some
had annual growth above 20%), while there was big uplift in towns
like Pakenham and Officer on the south-eastern fringe of
Melbourne.Then the growth spread to key centres a little further
out, including Ballarat in the north-west and Warragul and Drouin
in the south-east. The hill change towns immediately north of
Melbourne also thrived. Partly this was driven by buyers out of
Melbourne - both home-buyers and investors - seeking affordable
prices and/or higher yields and/or a more relaxed lifestyle, helped
by the growing numbers of people who work from home at least part
of the week.
Gradually, the growth has rippled further out. It’s now common
to find locations two, three or more hours from Melbourne recording
annual price growth above 10%: Echuca, Benalla, Wangaratta, Bright,
Mildura and others have all enjoyed double-digit growth in their
median house prices.
This edition of the Top 5 Victoria Regional Hotspots gives you
the pick of the crop - plus the data to explain why these locations
are thriving and the growth drivers that will continue to push them
into the future.