Eyeing coast from afar

Our seaside on interstate buyers’ wishlist

OUR biggest coastal towns are top of interstate buyers’ wishlists when it comes to online searches for Geelong property.

New realestate.com.au data shows Torquay is the region’s most popular suburb with interstate property seekers, followed by Ocean Grove, Geelong, Highton and Lara.

RT Edgar, Bellarine agent Brock Grainger said as well as the obviously lifestyle appeal of the region’s coastline, a desire to be closer to family drew many buyers from outside Vicpast toria. But he said the bulk of interest still came from Melbourne and people already living locally.

“I think due to the pandemic you have got people across the world just looking to re-evaluate their lifestyle and I think part of that is moving closer to family,” Mr Grainger said

“So definitely we have had people from interstate and even overseas move back into the area and generally it’s because they have got family here.” A Canberra buyer is among those to recently purchase sight unseen in Ocean Grove, paying $1.5 million for a modern four-bedroom home at 27 Janelle Way.

The sale set record price in the town’s Kingston Estate.

PropTrack director of economic research Cameron Kusher said the Geelong search data over the past year echoed the pull of coastal markets nationally. Queensland dominated the popularity stakes, with Surfers Paradise the most searched suburb in Australia among interstate buyers.

“More generally, the most popular suburbs for searches are tending to be either innercity areas or in major coastal markets,” Mr Kusher said.

He said interstate buyers would only be a small percentage of the Geelong market, with increased migration out of Melbourne driving most outof-town demand.

“Geelong has been popular for people moving out of Melbourne for quite some time, I guess the push to have more affordable housing and have lifestyle has made the push towards Geelong even stronger over the past 18 months or so,” he said.

Maxwell Collins, Geelong agent Eugene Carroll said interstate families looking to permanently relocate often had Newtown, which came in at No. 8, on their wishlist. “In the

Newtown certainly has attracted a lot of people from interstate mainly because of the colleges,” he said.

“They will ask friends and colleagues where is good place to live and also where the schools are.

“Highton and Belmont are popular because of the size of the blocks, they look on the internet and it seems to represent very good value for money.”

He said inner city Geelong appealed because of its infrastructure, including train links to Melbourne, hospitals and the waterfront.