Town by Town Snapshot: Point Lonsdale

The size of Point Lonsdale is about 14.3 square kilometres and has eight parks covering nearly 5.1 per cent of total area.

The population of Point Lonsdale in 2011 was 2,467 people and by the 2016 Census the population was 2,691 showing a population growth of 9.1 per cent in the area during that time.
Once predominately a holiday and weekend destination, the town’s population base has been transformed from its historic absentee owner majority to a more owner occupier population who love it, as can been seen by one of the state’s highest average length of ownership at 16 years.
Point Lonsdale is a coastal town on the western side of the entrance to Port Phillip Bay, 62 kilometers in a direct line south-west of Melbourne and is part of the Borough of Queenscliffe, and postdates the town of Queenscliff by about 20 years.
Point Lonsdale’s first recorded European inhabitant was an escaped convict, William Buckley, who lived among Aborigines in the area from 1803 to 1836.
Buckley’s cave, his supposed occasional shelter, is near the lighthouse on the actual point named after Port Phillip’s police magistrate, Captain William Lonsdale.
In 1863 a lighthouse was constructed at Point Lonsdale after it was realised that the lighthouses at Queenscliff, further inside the bay, were not enough to guide ships.
In 1876, land sales began at Point Lonsdale, but it took the opening of a railway in 1879 from Geelong to Queenscliff to spur on development.
In 1883 the Point Lonsdale bowls, tennis and croquet club was formed, and two years later the Terminus guesthouse opened which was the first of several.
Unlike Queenscliff, Point Lonsdale has had room to physically grow and housing has followed the golf club across the municipal boundary.
CoreLogic data indicates that the predominant age group in Point Lonsdale is 60-69 years with households in Point Lonsdale being primarily childless couples and are likely to be repaying $1,800-$2,399 per month on mortgage repayments, and in general, people in Point Lonsdale work in a professional occupation.
In 2011, 77.5 per cent of the homes in Point Lonsdale were owner occupied compared with 79 per cent in 2016.
Currently the median sales price of houses in the area is $837,250.

Population: 2,691

Male: 46%

Female: 54%

Median age: 59

5 year population change: 9.1%

Median house price: $837,250

Change in Median Price: (5yrs) is 21.3%

Median asking rent per week: $440

Average length of ownership: 16 years

Owner occupiers: 81%

Renters: 19%

Historic median house price:

March 2020: $837,250

March 2019: $820,000

March 2018: $792,450

March 2017: $700,000

March 2016: $607,500

House sales per annum:

Period ending March 2020: 69

Period ending March 2019: 73

Land median sale price:

March 2020: $440,000

March 2019: $382,000

Land sales per annum:

Period ending March 2020: 39

Period ending March 2019: 34