Price growth healthy in regional Victoria
House prices climbed across country Victoria over the past year, with major regional centres in most demand.
New data from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) shows prices have climbed by 4.1 per cent over the past year.
In the most recent quarter, the regions recorded growth of 0.8 per cent.
REIV CEO Enzo Raimondo said the large towns close to the Melbourne CBD were attracting interest from city-dwellers seeking a “tree change”.
Greater Geelong has seen an annual increase of 6.7 per cent while Ballarat is up by 3.9 per cent.
In Bendigo, prices have climbed by 7.9 per cent over the year and 1.5 per cent over the June quarter.
Mr Raimondo said these increases were driven by the new Bendigo Hospital project.
Further out, larger towns have also been performing well.
Shepparton recorded annual growth of 6.0 per cent and prices in Benalla are up by 5.3 per cent.
The small town of Ararat, two and a half hours of Melbourne, had a particularly strong year.
Though growth dropped over the last quarter, the yearly increase in house prices is at 20 per cent.