Barwon Heads is about to crack the $1 million mark as regional Victoria’s most-expensive property market, according to an industry body.
The town’s media house price hit $996,000 after a 1.6 per cent increase in the three months to June, the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) reported this week.
The latest price rise anchored Barwon Heads as officially the most-expensive place for homes in Victoria despite two towns posting higher results for the June quarter, said REIV chief Gil King.
Lorne’s median was $1.2 million and Riddells Creek nudged just over $1 million but the REIV eliminated them from its most-expensive list because they failed to achieve a minimum 50 sales in the previous 12 months.
Barwon Heads was about to enter the “million-dollar club” after its median price increase 4.8 per cent in the 12 months to the end of June, Mr King said.
Barwon Heads has cemented itself at the top of Victoria’s most-expensive list in recent years, with a recent decision to maintain the town’s boundaries likely to put further upward pressure on prices.
Torquay finished third on the REIV’s most-expensive list with a median of $831,000 despite a 1.4 per cent fall in prices in the June quarter.
Newtown was fourth with an $800,000 median, Mr King said.
The local prices were a far cry from the median value for homes on the other side of Port Phillip Bay in Gippsland, where City of Latrobe had the three cheapest suburbs.
“Morwell was the most affordable suburb in the REIV’s latest data release with a median house price of $178,000, up 1.7 per cent for the quarter and 3.5 per cent for the financial year,” Mr King said.
“Churchill’s median house price also increased, by 3.3 per cent for the quarter and 6.1 per cent for the year, making it the second most affordable property market in Regional Victoria with a median of $189,500.
“Moe’s median house price is sitting at exactly $200,000, having increased 5.3 per cent over the past 12 months, and the top five list is rounded out by Ararat and Stawell that have median house prices of $209,000 and $215,000 respectively.”
