Prices fall but market remains strong
The Victorian housing market remains in a stronger-than-predicted state as Australia’s second largest city goes back into lockdown, figures show.
The latest quarterly median prices released by the Real Estate Institute of Victoria show that the market is still strong. While there has been a small adjustment from the previous quarter, the market is in a much better shape than it was in 2019 across all property types.
House values in metropolitan Melbourne fell by 3.5 per cent over the June quarter, following four quarters of continuous growth.
The median price in metropolitan Melbourne is now $864,000, which is 6.1 per cent more valuable than they were at this time last year.
Houses in middle Melbourne recorded growth of 9.4 per cent, an increase since June 2019.
Units in Melbourne have recorded a quarterly median price of $621,000, just 2.5 per cent lower than the previous quarter, having grown by 6.4 per cent over the past 12 months.
REIV president Leah Calnan said 2020 has presented challenges in every respect and these results should provide a great source of confidence for all Victorians.
“Many pundits predicted doom and gloom amid crashes for Victorian property prices and that just hasn’t happened. Despite COVID-19, our market is stronger than 2019,” Ms Calnan said.
House values in regional Victoria have held steady, with the quarterly median house price at $420,000, up by 0.1 of a percentage point over the past quarter and a healthy 3.7 per cent annual growth.
Regional units have shown tremendous growth of 13.6 per cent over the past quarter, the median unit price for regional Victoria of $339,000, setting a new quarterly record.
“Prices have held despite transaction volumes being down, and these are historically unprecedented times,” Ms Calnan said.
“The great appetite for Victorian property continues. People from all over the place still want to buy a slice of Victoria. We need more homes being listed to keep up with this strong demand.”
The underlying strength of the Victorian market is evident as prices have stayed firm despite volume of sales transactions significantly reduced due to the restrictions imposed for the pandemic. Twenty-nine per cent fewer properties sold in Victoria for the June 2020 quarter when compared with the June 2019 quarter.
New records have also been set for houses and units sold by private treaty. Houses sold by this method are up by 7.6 per cent and unit sale prices have grown by 3.4 per cent over the quarter.
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