Town snapshot – Torquay - Bellarine Times

The size of Torquay is approximately 34.5sqkm and has many parks covering nearly 13.6 per cent of total area.

The population of Torquay in 2016 was 13,268 and by the 2021 Census the population had swelled to 18,534 showing a population growth of 30.8 per cent in the area during that time.

Add Jan Juc, Bells Beach and Bellbrae to the equation and the area now caters for more than 25,000 permanent residents.

Although there has been rapid growth in the last 5 years, the table has turned on Torquay continuing to be a growth town with the implementation of the Distinctive Areas and Landscapes Program now finalised and firmly imbedded in the planning scheme.

The catch-all piece of strategic planning policy has locked Torquay down with a hard town boundary, effectively putting a halt to any further greenfield development outside the confirmed boundary for the foreseeable future.

Torquay originally became to be a destination for beach goers and holiday home owners after early pastoralists who settled on farms around Torquay in the 1840s-60s, at that time known as Spring Creek, brought the first lots to market around 1880.

The next year a town improvement association was formed and in 1892 Spring Creek was named Torquay after the popular seaside town in Devon, England.

A school was opened in 1900 in a recently built Presbyterian church.

Ten years later a school building was erected in Bristol Road west of the town’s main business area in Gilbert Street.

The school site has since been vacated for a larger campus in Torquay North and Torquay Central shopping centre has replaced it.

By the early 1920s Torquay had three stores, the Palace hotel (former coffee palace), Follett’s boarding house and a golf links.

James Follett, who had built the coffee palace, also pioneered Torquay’s tourist trade with a wagonette service from Geelong and a bathing house on the beach.

Bells Beach, seven kilometers south west of Torquay, became a premier surfing venue.

Its first carnival was held in 1961, around eight years later local entrepreneurs started up the Rip Curl business, starting with making surf boards and branching into wet suits in 1970.

The Rip Curl factory also saw the beginning of Quiksilver and its new design for boardshorts (1969).

CoreLogic data indicates the predominant age group in Torquay is 0-9 years with households in Torquay being primarily couples with children and are likely to be repaying on average $2,167 per month on mortgage repayments, and in general, people in Torquay work in a professional occupation.

AGENT PERSPECTIVE:

“The majority of the Torquay market is still ticking along, with Old Torquay and Jan Juc properties continuing to see active buyers and excellent results.

“Properties in the newer housing estates are travelling at a slower rate due to the volume of properties coming onto the market, with investors looking to cash in on their/equity growth that they have received in the past two years and pay it off their current home loans or investing their money in other ways.

“We are expecting Torquay to move towards a slower market and vendors will have to be patient with their price and waiting for the right buyer.

“Prices should hold firm in the face of upcoming pressure, but homeowners shouldn’t expect the unprecedented growth of the past two years to continue.

“A return to the normal market is inevitable following the meteoric rise in 2020, but we are confident that 3228 will withstand coming headwinds as it has with previous challenges.

Tim Carson, owner-director, McCartney Real Estate Torquay

TIDBIT:

The first surfing carnival was held in 1961, and local entrepreneurs started up the Rip Curl business in Torquay about eight years later.

Population: 18,534

Male: 48.8%

Female: 51.2%

Median age: 39

5 year population change: 30.8%

House median sales price: $1,233,500

Change in median price: (5yrs) 49.6%

Median asking rent per week: $650

Average length of ownership: 11 years