Melbourne's middle ring leading the way: Terry Ryder
Middle Melbourne is leading the way as the Victorian capital continues to produce growth property markets right across the metropolitan area.
Melbourne isn’t getting the same headlines as Sydney, nor has not produced the same level of price growth, but it continues to present as a solid property market, with few signs of decline.
Our research for the latest edition of The Price Predictor Index shows there is momentum rippling through markets in all sectors.
There are strong precincts north, south, east and west of the CBD. Indeed, under the Index ranking system Melbourne has more notable markets than Sydney, with 12 Rising Fast, 118 Rising Steadily and 88 Consistency markets.
The market segment that stands out the most is “middle Melbourne”. There are several middle-ring precincts with mid-range prices (a tier below the million dollar median suburbs of the inner south-east) that are clear market leaders.
Melbourne’s up-cycle began in 2013 with the inner-city and the prestige suburbs of the inner south-east. But in 2014 the momentum spread increasingly to the middle-ring and outer-ring suburbs.
The middle market that deserves the title as leading growth area in Melbourne is the Whitehorse LGA, east of the Melbourne CBD. It has three Rising Fast suburbs and 10 rated as Rising Steadily. They include Nunawading (median price $690,000), Burwood East ($780,000) and Blackburn South ($780,000).
The Darebin municipality in the mid north is another rising middle-market precinct, with two Rising Fast suburbs – Preston ($660,000) and Reservoir ($520,000) – and two Rising Steadily suburbs.
Also prominent is Monash City with one Rising Fast suburb and seven Rising Steadily ones. Mount Waverley ($930,000) in the Monash LGA is one of the most upwardly-mobile suburbs in the nation, with sales per quarter rising from 134 to 177 to 191 to 246 throughout 2014.
The Kingston LGA, which includes middle market suburbs such as Cheltenham ($690,000) and Parkdale ($760,000), continues to emerge. It has one Rising Fast suburb, five Rising Steadily markets and four Consistency markets.
Cheaper areas further from the CBD are also thriving in the current cycle. The Casey LGA in the south-east has eight growth markets, including Endeavour Hills ($430,000) and Hampton Park ($350,000). Nearby, the Greater Dandenong and Frankston LGAs also have growth markets.
Whittlesea in the north is a strongly emerging precinct: it has one Rising Fast suburb and five Rising Steadily markets. Sales in Mill Park have been 70, 98, 90 and 140 in the past four quarters. The key feature in this precinct is affordability, good transport links and major jobs nodes.
The Brimbank LGA in the western suburbs continues to stand out. It has six Rising Steadily suburbs and eight Consistency markets. Again, it’s the power combination of affordability, infrastructure and jobs nodes that is driving this precinct.
Momentum in the Melbourne area spreads down to the Mornington Peninsula in the far south, where there is one Rising Fast market, three Rising Steadily suburbs and nine Consistency markets.
Upmarket areas such as the Boroondara LGA and the Glen Eira LGA feature, but most of the standout precincts are middle-market and bottom-end suburbs. This is where we expect to see the most price growth in 2015.
TERRY RYDER is the founder of hotspotting.com.au. You can email him or follow him on Twitter.