The nine reasons Fitzroy will not be the next Toorak
Unnamed property experts declared Fitzroy "the next Toorak" in weekend Fairfax Media silliness.
It was off the back of house price growth on Melbourne's north outpacing the south by 9.7% in the past five years.
"It is now more expensive to buy a home in Fitzroy than Windsor and Prahran," according to the news report.
But of course, Windsor and Prahran aren't Toorak.
The city's most expensive suburb remains Toorak, with a median house price of $2,430,000 in the March quarter – down from $2,875,000 in the December quarter.
However, it was still above second place which was East Melbourne's $2,242,000 with a handful of mansion sales, and Kew in third place, with a $1,944,000 median, up from $1,700,000.
Fitzroy North's median house was $1,135,000.
And it's poorer cousin Fitzroy had a $1.08 million house median.
And anyway looking at the list, Parkville seems to outrank the near suburbs from the other side of Nicholson Street.
| Toorak East Melbourne* Kew BRIGHTON MALVERN* CANTERBURY* Balwyn ARMADALE* MIDDLE PARK* Hawthorn EAST* SURREY HILLS Camberwell PORTSEA* Ivanhoe East* Hawthorn ALBERT PARK* PARKVILLE* SOUTH YARRA* South Melbourne* Sandringham* Caulfield NORTH* ELWOOD* Glen Iris HAMPTON Mont Albert* Balwyn NORTH BRIGHTON EAST Kew EAST* ELSTERNWICK* BLACK ROCK* BEAUMARIS Alphington* ASHBURTON* MCKINNON* Malvern East FITZROY NORTH* St Kilda East* ORMOND* ST KILDA* CAULFIELD SOUTH* PORT Melbourne FITZROY* BOX HILL* PRAHRAN Bentleigh FAIRFIELD* Mont Albert NORTH* WINDSOR* PARK ORCHARDS* TEMPLESTOWE CARLTON* CARLTON NORTH* | $2,430,000 $2,242,500 $1,944,000 $1,915,500 $1,908,750 $1,804,000 $1,740,000 $1,670,000 $1,670,000 $1,669,250 $1,551,000 $1,525,000 $1,520,000 $1,516,250 $1,505,000 $1,487,500 $1,467,500 $1,455,000 $1,335,000 $1,320,000 $1,317,500 $1,310,000 $1,310,000 $1,307,500 $1,305,000 $1,301,500 $1,301,000 $1,270,000 $1,268,500 $1,240,000 $1,220,000 $1,208,000 $1,175,000 $1,155,000 $1,146,000 $1,135,000 $1,127,500 $1,110,000 $1,110,000 $1,095,000 $1,085,000 $1,080,000 $1,065,000 $1,060,500 $1,050,000 $1,050,000 $1,047,500 $1,047,500 $1,045,000 $1,033,000 $1,027,500 $1,005,000 |
Source: REIV
(*fewer than 30 sales)
The nine reasons Fitzroy/Fitzroy North will not be the next Toorak.
- The celebrity chef George Calombaris sold out of Fitzroy North recently to upgrade Toorak residences to a $4.75 million French Provincial family residence with picture book windows overlooking Paul Bangay gardens.
- The queues over summer outside the Messina gelato shop on Smith Street are too long. Best send the butler from the air-conditioned Toorak mansion to collect the salted caramel take-away tub.
- Clifton Hill holds first rights to the title as it was described back in the 1880s as the "Toorak of Collingwood".
- Fitzroy only had two salons, Unico and Redroom, on the recent The Urban List of Melbourne's best blow dry. Toorak, and neighbouring South Yarra, had six entrants among the 16 salons.
- The 3,200 Toorak houses have an average 640 square metre block size. Fitzroy North's 3,500 houses come with a 240 square metre average. Fitzroy's 2,300 houses sit on an even smaller 165 square metre average square metre holding.
- The typical Fitzroy fare is plant-based Latin cuisine highlighted by the Smith & Daughters menu of pazole, paella, chorizo, ceviche and croquettes. There apparently isn't a single animal product on the premises.
- The top sale in the Fitzroy district has been $4.2 million since the 2012 sale of the charming Walkley set in 740 square metres of beautifully landscaped grounds on Alfred Crescent. Toorak has had around 250 sales above $4.2 million, topping out at $21.5 when the Cotton On boss Nigel Austin bought last year.
- Around 40% plus of Fitzroy/Fitzroy North houses are semis or terraces compared to just 15% in Toorak.
- Toorak is dominated by owner occupiers, with investors holding around 50% of stock in the Fitzroy precinct.
The pity was the captivating, though now amended, headline in The Age, "Million-dollar suburbs smash north-south divide", alluded to something significant occurring within the systemic divide, but then disappointed, I'd suggest in delivery.
And it has since come to light, from at least one of the unnamed experts, that they actually agree Fitzroy won't be Toorak. They were told "Fitzroy North becoming the Toorak of the north". What was reported was different.
Aerial photo of Fitzroy courtesy of Wikipedia/Creative Commons.