By Gil King, Real Estate Institute Of Victoria Chief Executive Officer
The latest data from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria is great news for property owners in the City of Greater Geelong, with the median house price soaring 11.2 per cent in the past year.
The median house price in the City of Greater Geelong is $528,000 but this varies substantially throughout the region, which is reflective of its diversity. For example, the median house price in the idyllic coastal township of Barwon Heads is $925,250 while $353,000 is the median for Corio.
Barwon Heads is regional Victoria’s most expensive suburb to purchase a home and the median price increased 8.2 per cent from June 2017. Similarly, the median price for a home in Newtown went up by eight per cent to $777,500.
Although still affordable, the median house price in Corio has skyrocketed 33 per cent since June 2017 to $353,000, the largest annual increase of any regional Victorian town. Norlane’s median has also gone up, by 32.7 per cent, to $345,000 and Newcomb has experienced a 29.4 per cent increase to $440,000.
The property market in the area has remained active in the past financial year, with comparable sales figures to the 12 months before. This is interesting considering that overall Victorian sales have declined.
The Geelong and Bellarine regions are home to many areas that are accessible to first home-buyers and this may be contributing to demand in the context of the Victorian Government’s incentives for that buyer group. They include the removal of stamp duty for homes less than $600,000 and the doubling of the First Home Owners Grant to $20,000.
Your local REIV agents are well-placed to provide specialised advice on local regions and towns.
