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HOUSE prices have surged as much as 36 per cent across Geelong’s northwest corridor as buyers are forced to look further afield for affordable property.
New data from CoreLogic shows Manifold Heights, Bell Post Hill, Hamlyn Heights and Herne Hill are among the city’s top-performing suburbs.
The tightly-held pocket of Manifold Heights recorded the largest increase in median house prices in the past 12 months.
It rose 36 per cent to $727,500, however this is based on a small sample of 31 sales.
Hot on its heels was Bell Post Hill, where median prices jumped 17.2 per cent to $395,000.
PRD Nationwide, Geelong agent Laurie McGovan said that suburbs in Geelong’s northwest were now hot property.
“People are keen to buy and there’s a shortage of good quality properties on the market in those areas,” Mr McGovan said.
“You can certainly feel that this area is on the move, just with the numbers through the open houses, which have been quite strong.”
He said first-home buyers were attracted to the cheaper prices, goodsized blocks and quiet streets in suburbs such as Herne Hill.
The area’s proximity to the ring road also helped to attract buyers from Melbourne.
“With the increase in prices people are being forced to the next ring of suburbs out from Geelong West,” Mr McGovan said.
There were 14 suburbs in metropolitan Geelong that recorded median price growth of 10 per cent or more in the past 12 months, according to the CoreLogic data.
The figures also reveal there are seven suburbs with a median house price above $500,000 — Manifold Heights, Geelong West, East Geelong, Highton, Newtown, Geelong and Waurn Ponds.
Maxwell Collins, Geelong agent Duncan Skene said rising prices in Geelong West had forced people who would traditionally have bought in the suburb to look elsewhere.
“It has been massive out there (in the northwest suburbs) and there are just not a lot of properties on the market,” Mr Skene said.
“I think people are attracted to the big blocks and Geelong West is getting unaffordable and people are priced out.”