Where are most of Melbourne’s million dollar homes sold? Weekend auction preview

Five years ago there were 3,335 homes sold for in excess of $1 million in Melbourne – not so surprising is that the top 10 sales were in the city’s most expensive addresses.

The top three, Brighton, Camberwell and Kew, saw 266, 162 and 157 houses sold for over a million dollars in 12 months. Remarkably, in the bayside suburb of Brighton, 109 of those were in excess of $2 million. Bay views command incredible sale prices due to their scarcity.

The remaining seven in the list are Toorak, Brighton East, Hawthorn, Malvern,Malvern East, Canterbury and Surry Hills.

Over the past year, the million-dollar list has changed and shows some interesting shifts in the market. Firstly, there are many more with 9,684 sales over a million. Secondly five of the top 10 are new.

Balwyn North, Glen Waverley, Glen Iris, Balwyn and Mount Waverley are newly into the list.

Balwyn and Balwyn North are not a surprise, along with neighbouring Mont Albert and Mont Albert North, they have seen the highest capital gains on an annualised basis over the past five years in Melbourne.

The most significant shift is found in Mount Waverley and Glen Waverley.  Between these, 442 houses sold for over a million dollars, 41 of those for over two million.

Both have seen increases in demand well in excess of the comparable suburbs to the north and south with buyers attracted by a range of factors from transport choices to schools.

Key points

• Over the past five years the number of million dollar homes sold has almost tripled;
• Glen Waverley and Mount Waverley are in the top 10 and were not five years ago;
• Nearly 10,000 homes have sold in the last year for more than $1 million.

There are 1,401 auctions scheduled this week in Melbourne compared to 1,334 for the same time last year.

This is the second week with over 1,000 auctions for the year and volumes at auctions have risen to a level that is similar to last year now. Once listings for private sale are taken into consideration there are fewer new homes on the market than a year ago. There were 1.8% fewer homes listed for sale in the past month than last year which suggests consumers are still approaching the market is caution.

In respect of the private sale market in the past week, on a citywide basis, the time on market results for houses sold at private sale fell to 60 days, down from 66 days in the previous week. Overall vendor discounting was up slightly to -5.4% from -5.1%.

Key data

• Preliminary clearance rate week ending 22 February: 75.8%
• Melbourne auctions expected week ending 1 March: 1,401
• Melbourne private sales time on market week ending 22 February: 60 days (houses)
• Melbourne vendor discounting market week ending 22 February: -5.4% (houses)
• Listings being prepared for market are 0.7% higher in the month ending 22 February (seasonally adjusted)