Usual suspects make list

THE Real Estate Institute of Victoria’s latest median house price release for the March to June has Barwon Heads once again sitting on the top of the list for the most expensive property market in regional Victoria.

There median house prices now sitting perilously close to the $1 million mark at $996,000, having increased 1.6 per cent in the quarter and 4.8 per cent for the year to 30 June.

Lorne again made the million dollar club with a median of $1.21m while Riddells Creek tipped over the $1m median for the first time at $1.01 million. However, neither made an appearance on the REIV’s ‘most expensive list’ because we only include towns with a minimum of 50 sales in the past 12 months.

Coming in second (but well behind) was Gisborne where the median house price is $835,000, an increase of 2.1 per cent for the quarter and 9.9 per cent for the financial year. Torquay’s median house price dipped 1.4 per cent for the June quarter, taking it to $831,000, but the surf haven is still making a strong third place appearance on the most expensive list.

Newtown and Woodend rounded out the top five with their medians sitting at $800,000 and $792,500 respectively.

House hunters looking for a bargain should cast their eyes on the Gippsland property market, with the top three most affordable suburbs sitting within the City of Latrobe. Morwell was the most affordable with a median house price of $178,000 – up 1.7 per cent for the quarter and 3.5 per cent.

Churchill also increased, by 3.3 per cent for the quarter and 6.1 per cent for the year, making it the second most affordable property market in regional Victoria with a median of $189,500.

Moe’s median house price is sitting at exactly $200,000, having increased 5.3 per cent over the past 12 months and the top five list is rounded out by Ararat and Stawell that have median house prices of $209,000 and $215,000 respectively.

To find out more about property values, head to the REIV’s Market Insights page – reiv.com.au/market-insights.