Weekly Market Update - 19th December 2017
By | 19th Dec 17

Your weekly property update by Frank Valentic

Well the curtain draws down on Melbourne’s auction market as there will only be a handful of twilight auctions from here and Melbourne finished with a consistent 70% clearance rate from 1168 auctions. There was a large volume of properties on the market in Spring and the early Summer season but Melbourne definitely passed the test with flying colours and it all augers well for a solid year next year. This compares to Sydney where clearance rates have dropped below 50% and there are more opportunities as it is has turned into a buyers’ market versus our sellers’ market.

Looking at the year in review, it has been a stellar year again for Melbourne property and the capital growth we have seen in the last twelve months is much higher than what I have seen in my twenty two years of buying property. Some suburbs have gone up a whopping 20% to 40% in the last twelve months and that is largely been driven by our lowest interest rates in history and Melbourne’s reputation as the World’s most liveable city is attracting many new residents from overseas and interstate. We are now seeing a large influx of Sydney buyers relocating and coming to Melbourne due to the ability to downsize because of the more affordable pricing of our housing in Melbourne and our more affordable cost of living.

 Looking forward to 2018, I think we will continue to have another solid year. Melbourne’s housing sector will be the strongest in the middle to outer suburbs as these areas tend to lag behind the more popular inner blue chip suburbs so I believe there will still be some solid growth, in particularly in the middle Western suburbs and middle Northern suburbs. I don’t believe the growth will continue at 20% to 40% as I think it will come back to more normal levels of approximately 10% to 15% on average. Though, I think some of the inner suburbs may have already peaked. We have seen areas like Elsternwick become very popular and many are talking about The Block having an influence as The Block properties put Elsternwick on the map. It is a smaller “bridesmaid” suburb and has typically been sought after by buyers that cannot afford to buy beachside of the highway in suburbs like Brighton and Elwood. But now the median house price has jumped to $2,105,000 which confirms that it is now very popular with many buyers.

We look forward to communicating to you in the New Year and wish to continue to keep you up to date with our Market Updates. Wishing you all the best over the Festive Season and a happy and safe holiday. Please don’t hesitate to check out our website for more information about our popular Buyer’s Advocate, Sellers Advocate, Owner’s Corporation and Property Management services and our latest newsletters as well as our future Group Block opportunities. Our newest opportunities are a block of two bedroom art deco apartments (without parking) in Duke Street, St Kilda for $485,000-$535,000 each that we have negotiated after auction with a developer, block of 4 two bedroom villa units in Tullamarine (approximately $310,000 each), a block of 4 one bedroom and 2 two bedroom villa units in Ballarat, each with a car space (approximately $150,000 each for the one bedroom units and approximately $200,000 each for the two bedroom units).  Please register your interest by contacting mfairbank@advantageproperty.com.au