Suburb spotlight video: Hawthorn – blue chip, but a mixed bag

Suburb spotlight video: Hawthorn – blue chip, but a mixed bag
Jessie RichardsonDecember 7, 2020

The Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn is a favourite among top end owner occupiers and investors alike.

Six kilometres east of the CBD, the suburb sits along Melbourne's private school belt, and is home to Scotch College. Next to Kew and Camberwell, it also offers easy access to Xavier College, Carey Baptist College among many other private schools.

Glenferrie Road is the main shopping and leisure strip in the suburb, with a variety of cafes, grocery stores and clothing retailers. The strip also serves as the central public transport hub, with Glenferrie Station and the route 16 tram. The suburb also houses Auburn Railway Station and Hawthorn Station, while tram routes 48, 70, 72, 75 and 109 also cart private school students to and from the area.

One of Melbourne's older suburbs, Hawthorn has managed to stretch its post-gold rush riches to the present day. It remains a desirable spot to some of the city's wealthiest families, with RP Data recording a median house price of $2,135,000 for September.

Its early popularity also means the suburb is populated with Victorian and Edwardian homes, which are a major drawcard for buyers, according to Marshall White Hawthorn's Stuart Evans.

He told Property Observer that a combination of character homes, local educational institutions and local amenities command demand from premium buyers.

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Evans did, however, also note that the area sees a diverse mix of stock.

"Hawthorn's market is mainly made up of period homes: beautiful Victorians and Edwardian homes. There is a good mixture of apartments - high density living apartments - due to Swinburne University, so we see that offers some great opportunities for investors as well," Evans said.

Swinburne University attracts a number of students to the suburbs, with multiple low rise apartment complexes in the area catering to students.

However, according to SQM Research, the implied gross rental yield of apartments in the area has been volatile, reaching above 10% in mid-2010 and now sitting around 5%. SQM Research estimates that a two bedroom unit is likely to attract $400.30 at the time of writing.

This two bedroom apartment is currently advertised at $385 per week (pictured below).

According to RP Data, the median asking price for a unit in Hawthorn is $593,000.

Median unit prices, which grew by 6.4% in 2013, saw a big uptick in 2010, with RP Data recording 32.4%. They certainly fared better through the period than house prices, which dipped in 2009 by 10.8%.

Hawthorn was not immune to the post global financial crisis downturn in prestige prices, although it has made a recovery, with 13.8% capital growth in median house prices in 2013.

The suburb's premium houses still command high prices: late last month, the six bedroom house pictured below sold for $5.35 million.

Rammed earth Hawthorn $5.35 million sale: RP Data's top 10 sales

But the high volume of student accommodation means it's not all prestige stock in Hawthorn. At the other end of the spectrum, this 25 square metre apartment, advertised as "larger than most", was offered with a price guide of $99,000 after buyers failed to bite at $165,000 (pictured below).

It was on the market for four years, and finally sold in September for $92,000.

Feature photo of Glenferrie Road courtesy of Diliff/CC BY-SA 3.0.

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