Keep your cards close to your chest, Melbourne’s hardest suburbs to buy into: Robert Larocca

Keep your cards close to your chest, Melbourne’s hardest suburbs to buy into: Robert Larocca
Robert LaroccaDecember 7, 2020

The number of homes on the market across Melbourne varies depending on the suburb with some areas providing buyers with plenty of choice while simultaneously, properties in other suburbs are being tightly held.

Over the year ending July 2013 the five most tightly held suburbs in Melbourne were Oakleigh East, Glen Huntly, Princes Hill, Heidelberg and Clarinda.

The data is based on sales recorded with the Valuer General in suburbs with a minimum of 500 houses.

In these suburbs between 2.2% and 2.6% of homes have been on the market over the last twelve months. In Oakleigh East this resulted in a mere 20 homes sold from 1,417.

When looking at the list in more detail, two interesting clusters of suburbs are apparent. Not only is Oakleigh East tightly held but neighbouring Oakleigh and Oakleigh South are also in the top 20. In those three suburbs there are nearly 9,000 houses of which only 159 have sold.

The other cluster is for houses in Parkville, Princes Hill and Carlton. The most available of those suburbs is Carlton with only 3.1% of homes offered for sale.

The reasons for this will vary and it certainly is not price driven as the median prices in the Oakleigh area are between $560,000 and $640,000 whilst in the other cluster the lowest is $881,000 in Carlton.

These two areas are surely the hardest places to buy a home in Melbourne.


Robert Larocca is Victorian housing market specialist for RP Data.

Robert Larocca

Robert Larocca is Victorian housing market specialist for CoreLogic RP Data.

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