Geelong leapfrogs Melbourne for home value

GEELONG’s median house price has surpassed Melbourne’s as the region weathered a recent market downturn better than its metropolitan neighbour.

CoreLogic data showed Geelong region, which also includes Surf Coast and Golden Plains local government areas, dropped 0.8 per cent of home value during July to $839,000.

But the region fared better than Melbourne, which lost 1.5 per cent during the month to sit at $792,000.

The difference across the last quarter was starker: Geelong lost 0.9 per cent of value in the past three months, compared with Melbourne’s 3.2-per-cent dip.

Despite Geelong’s recent downturn, house values are still up 10.8 per cent compared with the same point last year, while Melbourne stagnated with just 0.3-per-cent growth in the past 12 months.

Geelong’s performance matched a decline across regional Australia during July, which had its first negative growth result (-0.8 per cent) since August 2020.

The region also outperformed the overall national average, which showed a 1.3-per-cent drop in the past month.

The national market fell for the third consecutive month after its unprecedented growth of 28.6 per cent during the pandemic, with prices peaking in April.

CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless pointed to interest rate rises, which started in May, as the cause of the recent slump.

“The rate of growth in housing values was slowing well before interest rates started to rise, however, it’s abundantly clear markets have weakened quite sharply since the first rate rise on May 5,” he said.

“Although the housing market is only three months into a decline, the national Home Value Index shows that the rate of decline is comparable with the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008, and the sharp downswing of the early 1980s.