VICTORIA
CHOPPY CONDITIONS ARE NOW OVER
The last 12 months have been tough for Victorians with rolling lockdowns impacting the economy and people ’ s livelihoods . For property , the impacts have been skewed towards the inner suburban apartment rental market . Like the rest of Australia , prices in Melbourne have grown , although a little bit more subdued than other cities . Regional Victoria has surged ahead and experienced some of the strongest price growth it has ever recorded .
Within Melbourne , buyers ’ desire for more space becomes apparent and price growth in outer suburban areas is more pronounced than the rest of the country . The Mornington Peninsula saw very strong growth and Flinders topped the list , almost reaching a $ 2.5 million median price . All the strongest growth suburbs are located far from inner Melbourne , on the outskirts of the city .
The strength of regional Victoria becomes more apparent looking at the top growth Local Government Areas over the past 12 months . All of them are located in regional areas . South Gippsland tops the list with over 50 per cent price growth however the list is dominated by sea and tree change locations that still remain relatively affordable compared to Melbourne despite strong increases in pricing . At the top end of the market , we have now seen the number of $ 1 million regional Victorian towns double with Jan Juc , Anglesea and Mount Macedon hitting this level over the past 12 months .
While regional and outer suburban areas are doing well , there are still a lot of challenges for Victoria . The state has lost a lot of people to other states over the past 12 months and the number of people moving to Queensland has not been seen since the early 1990 ’ s recession . If this continues , it will hamper the state ’ s recovery .
Inner Melbourne unit markets are also a challenge and until overseas migration starts up again , will continue to see high vacancies . Surprisingly however , prices are still being maintained in many areas seeing big drops in rents and we are not seeing a high level of distressed sellers .
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