This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
MELBOURNE’S property market recorded growth across both houses and units in the city’s inner, middle, and outer suburbs for the first time since the June quarter of 2021.
According to REIV’s quarterly median data for September 2023, across Victoria the property market was looking more stable as the outer suburbs pushed up price growth with a 1.3% increase for houses and 1.8% increase for units over the quarter.
Over the quarter, Metropolitan Melbourne saw a 0.2% decline in house prices to a median of $933,500 and a 1.0% uplift for unit prices to a median of $633,500.
While Regional Victoria was stable across both markets, with houses at $604,500 and units at $416,500. With regional house medians recording prices above $600,000 for eight consecutive quarters.
“As expected, stability has continued into the latter half of 2023 with the quarter showing strong signs of recovery on property prices across Melbourne and regional Victoria,” said Jacob Caine, freshly elected REIV president.
“For buyers, this is a good time to enter the market after a period of some uncertainty. Sellers can feel confident to list and sell their properties as well, with consistent buyer demand.”
The state’s top 20 suburbs for house price growth was led by the outer suburbs, with Keysborough up 13.2%, Rye up 13% and Ringwood East up 12.2%.
Suburbs in the Mornington Peninsula saw significant growth over the quarter, with Crib Point up 40%, Somerville up 22.3%, Tootgarook up 18.6% and Blairgowrie up 17.7%.
For units, Toorak saw the greatest increase at 39%, again above the million dollar mark at $1,292,500, as the most expensive suburb for median unit price in September quarter 2023.
Bentleigh East was the second most expensive suburb, after quarterly growth of 5.6%, at $1,290,000. With Brighton East, Brighton, and Glen Waverley rounding out the top five.
“Auction clearance rates have been tracking above 70% for almost all of 2023, with an average of weekly clearance rate of 75% year to date,” added Caine.
“With clearance rates high, we expect this growth is likely to continue over coming months and into 2024.”
