CITY No.1 FOR REAL ESTATE
Local values buck downward trend
GEELONG remains the best performing property market in the country.
CoreLogic’s latest Hedonic Home Value Index shows dwelling values, taking into account both houses and units, in Geelong are up 11.8 per cent over the past year to $564,847.
However, the outlook was not so positive elsewhere, with dwelling values falling across five of Australia’s eight capital cities and national dwelling values were down for the 11th consecutive month.
Melbourne is Australia’s weakest capital city housing market with dwelling values falling 2 per cent over the three months to the end of August. Dwelling values in Geelong increased 1.5 per cent in the past quarter.
GEELONG remains the best performing property market in the country.
CoreLogic’s latest Hedonic Home Value Index shows dwelling values, taking into account both houses and units, in Geelong are up 11.8 per cent over the past year to $564,847.
However, the outlook was not so positive elsewhere, with dwelling values falling across five of Australia’s eight capital cities and national dwelling values were down for the 11th consecutive month.
Melbourne is now Australia’s weakest capital city housing market with dwelling values falling 2 per cent over the three months to the end of August and Canberra was the strongest with a 0.4 per cent increase.
Dwelling values in Geelong increased 1.5 per cent in the past quarter.
Buxton, Newtown agent Ben Riddle said there was no doubt Geelong had now captured everybody’s attention.
“Supply has been pretty tight which is why the market continues to perform at that extremely high level,” Mr Riddle said.
“There is noticeably more stock coming on the market in the last month, that might have an impact on prices levelling out just a touch.”
CoreLogic data shows there are 1554 properties on the market in the Geelong region at the moment.
At the same time in 2017 there were 1711 properties for sale, in 2016 there were 2171, in 2015 there were 2668 and in 2014 there were 2727.
Mr Riddle said he couldn’t remember the last time stock levels were this low.
“I think spring will be a really good selling season, a lot more stock is coming on and October and November will be the biggest selling months,” he said.
He said Westpac’s interest rate rise last week would not have as big as impact on the property market as banks regulations would.
“What we are seeing is the tightening of bank regulations … the way banks are behaving towards buyers is going to have more of an effect on the market rather than banks raising interest rates,” he said.
“Banks are becoming more stringent in their lending, that’s designed to cool the market.”
McGrath, Geelong agent Jim Cross said Geelong’s affordability and lifestyle were the two big drawcards for the area.
“Forty per cent of our buyers are from Melbourne and it is a mixture of investors and owner occupiers,” Mr Cross said. “Geelong has the liveability factor, it is easy to get around Geelong and get the kids to school and sport.”
He predicts there won’t be as intense growth as there has been in Geelong but it would still remain strong but taper off a little bit.
Houses and units in the Geelong region are both faring well, according to CoreLogic data. The median house value is up 11.6 per cent in the past year to $590,885 and the median unit value has jumped 13.3 per cent to $423,780.