House prices settle across the state

The Victorian property market is showing signs of stabilisation this quarter.

The metropolitan Melbourne median house price recorded a marginal drop of one per cent to $955,500 in the March quarter while units recorded a 1.8 per cent drop to $611,000.

Houses in regional Victoria once again held strong, nudging down to $602,000 from $603,000 this quarter, but growing 2.2 per cent to $608,000 annually.

Units and apartments grew 3.7 per cent to $425,000.

Morwell took first place for annual growth in the regional suburbs, with a 21.5 per cent jump to $371,250, followed by the border town of West Wodonga up 21.1 per cent ringing in at $539,000.

The beachside Barwon Heads demonstrated its desirability once again, with a 15 per cent increase over the year to $1.955 million.

For those seeking a tree change for under $400,000, houses in Stawell are going for a median of $380,000 up 18.8 per cent, while Churchill sits at $378,500 up 12.3 per cent.

Both locations grew while remaining within the top five most affordable suburbs for regional Victoria.

REIV president Andrew Meehan said the property market is still stabilising after the price boom the pandemic instigated, and while there’s still uncertainty around the future impact of interest rate rises in the market, there is positive activity.

The REIV Residential Market Index, or RMX, which measures the price movement on weekly basis, has rebounded by 8.9 per cent since the start of this year.

Currently the RMX sits at 154.9, close to levels recorded in mid-2022.

“Despite pressures from the interest rate increases, the market remains robust, particularly in outer ring suburbs, strong demand for housing is likely to continue throughout the rest of the year,” said Mr Meehan.

For the hopeful homebuyers closer to the city, good news comes from Melbourne’s outer suburbs as house prices in Wyndham Vale dropped 4.7 per cent to settle at a median of $552,500 this quarter but, recorded 9 per cent growth over 12 months, taking the spot as Melbourne’s top suburb for annual growth.

Other outer suburbs showing strong growth, but well within reach for house hunters, were Tarneit with 3.4 per cent annual growth to $650,000 and Pakenham recording a 4 per cent jump to $645,500.

Moving into middle Melbourne, Brighton was a standout suburb and dominated as Melbourne’s most expensive for the March 2023 report.

As one of the few to bolster its median price both quarterly up 23.2 per cent to $3.951 million and annually with a 0.3 per cent increase on houses.

Brighton also took the lead in the most expensive for units and apartments recording a 11.8 per cent quarterly spike to $1.398 million and 8.5 per cent increase annually.

Contrast to the bay, the leafy suburb of Templestowe rivalled Brighton’s quarterly growth showing a 23.2 per cent increase to median house price of just less than $1.811 million.

While units and apartments in culture-rich Glen Waverley saw a 22 per cent increase in quarterly medians to $1.220 million.