South of the Yarra dominates Melbourne's top suburbs for house value growth

The top 10 Melbourne suburbs ranked by growth in house values in 2014 were dominated by some of the cities most expensive suburbs and they were located south of the Yarra.

Overall, the Melbourne housing market produced a near repeat of 2013 with house values rising by 8.4% and units recorded a rise of 1.1% as a result of high levels of supply; particularly in the inner city highrise market.

Armadale, Caulfield North and Kew experienced the highest growth in house values and this is reflective of a number of factors including that the strongest rate of value growth being recorded in the middle and upper segments of the market.

The appearance of Box Hill in the Top 10 highlights the continual popularity of the group of suburbs around Balwyn and Mont Albert. Over the last decade these suburbs have provided the best capital gains for owners. These suburbs have broad appeal for myriad reasons such as close proximity to local amenities such as parks, a range of transport choices, local shopping nodes and accessibility to the central business district.

At a broader level, the fundamentals of the Melbourne property market remain sound. A major contributor to these fundamentals is the positive impact on housing market from supportive monetary policy in the form of a record low interest rate. Furthermore, ongoing strong overseas migration to Victoria and a record high influx of residents moving to the state from the rest of Australia also helps to support housing demand.

House value growth slowed from 3.8% in the September 2014 quarter to just 0.8% over the final quarter of 2014. My big question for the summer and autumn markets is whether this was simply due to higher levels of supply or the start of a softer trend.