Relocating buyers take chance on a tree change

THE chance for a semi-rural escape to Golden Plains towns of Bannockburn or Inverleigh is enticing Melbourne buyers already armed with generous WorkSafe relocation packages.

Bannockburn is already one of Victoria’s fastest growing towns, with the population now supporting a new secondary college and plans to expand the shopping centre.

Golden Plains councillor and Landmark Harcourts agent Owen Sharkey said the opportunity to enjoy the rural surrounds was attractive.

“All those Melbourne people coming down, a lot of the ones we’re dealing with buying here or down on the coast, have no interest in buying in Geelong,” he said.

“They’ve lived in Melbourne and are saying I’m living in a leafy suburb at the moment, if I’m going to make the change to move down there and I’m getting a relocation package, I want something different,” he said.

Mr Sharkey said relocation packages for WorkSafe employees worth up to $90,000 meant they were able to take the gamble.

“They want that country lifestyle and the potential to, if it doesn’t work, to sell it and move into Geelong.

“People are buying into the potential — they can see the level of growth with the shopping centre and the school.”

Bannockburn’s median house prices hit $440,000 this year, a 15 per cent jump in 12 months, according to CoreLogic. But the most telling figure is days on market, which has dropped 61 per cent in a year to just 28 days.

At 2300 Midland Highway, Landmark Harcourts agent Owen Sharkey negotiated a post-auction sale of a four-bedroom house on a 33.4ha farm overlooking the Moorabool valley.

Mr Sharkey said the sale price was just over $1.2 million, close to hopes of $1.25 million to $1.35 million quoted ahead of Saturday’s auction.

The sale comes after a church conversion at 143 Clyde Hill Rd, Russells Bridge sold for $800,000.

The three-bedroom conversion of the original Russells Bridge church found a one-in-100 buyer after a long campaign, he said.