This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
LAND prices across Melbourne’s key growth corridors jumped by 7.7% in one year, with the median price of conventional lots in almost every municipality now significantly higher than $300,000.
It comes as Singapore-listed Ho Bee Land has spent $140 million on the Aitken Hill Conference Centre in Craigieburn, in the municipality of Hume, according to reports.
The latest Oliver Hume Quarterly Market Insights reveals the Melbourne median lot price hit a record $334,900 in the September quarter.
Across all lot types prices increased by 7%.
The fast-growing municipality of Casey recorded the biggest annual change, up 18.5%, although it dipped 3.8% during the quarter to $404,000.
Geelong recorded a median lot price above $300,000 for the first time, reaching $313,750, following a quarterly increase of 8.7% and annual uplift of 11.3%. Major diversified developer Stockland has been active in the region.
Lot prices in Melton increased by 15.1% over the year, and by 11.1% in Whittlesea, where Stockland recently added 140 hectares of land in Beveridge to its portfolio for $125 million, and Peet Limited picked up Core Project’s Mystique Estate in Wollert.
Changes were softer in Mitchell (3.7%) and Hume (0.9%) in that time. The latter has also seen Ho Bee Land buy over 45 hectares of land in Mickleham.
Oliver Hume chief executive officer Julian Coppini said strong demand for land continued to put upward pressure on prices and pricing momentum remains positive.
“The resilient performance of the land market, in a quarter dominated by Melbourne’s sixth lockdown, is testament to the growing confidence of buyers and the skill and experience of the industry to deliver in very challenging condition.”
He said the impact of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s recent raising of lending buffers would will become clearer in the months ahead.
Oliver Hume’s national head of research George Bougias said relative affordability of greenfield metropolitan and regional areas – compared to the Melbourne median house price of over $1 million – continues to underpin the purchasing decisions of many buyers.
