Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs enjoy real estate boom
The outer east has emerged as the standout performer in Melbourne’s autumn real estate market, as the hunt for affordable homes continues to push buyers further out.
A bullish auction clearance rate of 87.3 per cent in the outer east compared to Melbourne’s overall 71.8 per cent last weekend shows a significant swing in favour of homes in the leafy suburbs. Vermont South has taken the lead in clearance rates after recording 95.2 per cent so far this season, followed by Ashwood with 92.3 per cent.
Valuer and buyer’s advocate Greville Pabst, of WBP Property Group, attributes the growth in the outer-eastern suburbs to the ”ripple effect”.
”It’s becoming increasingly difficult to buy a quality house within 10 kilometres of the CBD for under $1 million,” he said. ”People are forced to go into the outer suburbs in order to buy a family home.”
Andrew Wilson, the senior economist from Fairfax-owned Australian Property Monitors, said as properties in Blackburn and Nunawading were becoming more expensive, buyers were looking further afield.
He said sales of mid-price properties from $600,000 to $1 million in particular had been consistently strong. ”It really is that belt from Warrigal Road all the way out to the Dandenongs that’s proved to be very popular over the past 12 months,” he said.
”But it also includes Glen Waverley and Mount Waverley which have been really strong performers in that market.”
Dr Wilson said the outer east helped hold Melbourne’s clearance rate above 70 per cent, but the 1248 homes set for auction on Saturday – the highest this year – would be a test for the market.
Doreen Giang, 41, and her husband Matthew, 41, sold their four-bedroom townhouse in Harworth Close, Vermont South for $687,000 one week before it was scheduled for auction.
”There could be a chance [we] could get a bit higher, but there’s also the risk that we might not, so we just didn’t want to be too greedy,” Mrs Giang said.
