From AFL legends to media heavyweights, Melbourne’s elite are clustering in one bayside suburb where lifestyle, schools and social cachet collide.
Brighton has taken the crown as Melbourne’s ultimate celebrity postcode, its streets lined with multimillion-dollar homes owned by Chris and Bec Judd, Shane Crawford, Sam Newman, Fifi Box, Jennifer Keyte and Georgie Parker, alongside a wave of media and sporting names including Nathan Buckley, Daisy Pearce and television host Jacqui Felgate.
For decades, Toorak has been the shorthand for wealth, but Melbourne’s social centre of gravity has shifted closer to the coast.
Brighton has become the postcode that blends prestige with beach culture, where the school run meets the shoreline and fame feels just another part of the neighbourhood.
New PropTrack research shows the suburb’s median house price is holding firm at about $3.15m, down just 1 per cent in the past year as more than 280 homes changing hands.
By comparison, Toorak’s median has slipped 18.3 per cent to $4.61m, while Portsea, long favoured by Hamish and Zoë Foster Blake, Eddie McGuire, the late Shane Warne and comedian Mick Molloy, has surged almost 10 per cent to $3.76m.
Canterbury has also climbed nearly 10 per cent, lifting to about $3.61m, as profile buyers including Anthony LaPaglia and business leader Anthony Pratt shift east for its tree-lined streets, elite schools and quiet prestige.
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Chris and Bec Judd own a home in Brighton. Picture: Danielle Castano
Jacqui Felgate has a property in Melbourne’s ultimate celebrity postcode.
Whitefox founder and Block judge Marty Fox said Brighton’s resilience was no accident.
“Brighton isn’t a trend, it’s a way of life,” Mr Fox said.
“Volumes hold because the lifestyle is irreplaceable: the beach, the schools, the village culture. That resilience is what keeps Brighton’s celebrity factor intact.”
Mr Fox said despite its 18 per cent dip, Toorak hasn’t lost its crown.
“Toorak is the most elastic part of the market. Confidence wavers, listings pause and the data looks dramatic,” he said.
“But Brighton proves lifestyle trumps volatility, it’s where Melbourne’s culture, sport and business communities meet the sea.”
Whitefox founder and Block judge Marty Fox
Mr Fox said the suburb’s celebrity cachet had evolved beyond postcode prestige.
“Brighton and Portsea are the twin pillars of Melbourne’s top end,” Mr Fox said.
“Brighton is where the city meets the water, it’s the weekday anchor. Portsea is where the city goes to exhale, it’s the escape and both carry generational pull, they both represent what the modern buyer values: space, privacy and connection.”
Mr Fox said Melbourne’s top-end market was evolving rather than eroding.
“Sydney might be the benchmark for wealth, but Melbourne’s strength is its cultural depth,” he said.
“Toorak and Brighton hold the cachet, Canterbury and Kew are the climbers, and Portsea remains the lifestyle play.
“Prestige markets don’t just follow the economy, they shape culture. And right now, culture is saying lifestyle is the new luxury.”
Shane Warne has a residence in Portsea. Picture: Robert Prezioso/Getty Images
Eddie McGuire owns a property in Portsea. Picture: David Caird
Prominent Melbourne buyers’ advocate Cate Bakos said the suburb’s mix of glamour and practicality kept it bulletproof.
“It’s the full package, beautiful, generous blocks and statement homes, but also the bay, the beach and that pretty coastal streetscape,” Ms Bakos said.
“Add exclusive private schools on the doorstep and you’ve got an irresistible combination. Brighton delivers everything high-net-worth families want without feeling disconnected.”
Ms Bakos said celebrity residents amplified the suburb’s pull.
“People like the idea of being near that world, it signals success,” she said.
“The halo effect is real in these postcodes, but so is the lifestyle. The people who move here rarely leave, and that keeps supply tight.”
She said Brighton’s concentration of media personalities such as Mike Larkan, Bianca Chatfield and 10 News anchor Jennifer Keyte had given it “recognisable star power that few suburbs can replicate”.
Prominent Melbourne buyers’ advocate Cate Bakos.
Kay & Burton prestige director Darren Lewenberg said confidence was flowing back into Melbourne’s luxury market after two subdued years.
“We’ve had motivated buyers with money but little urgency,” Mr Lewenberg said.
“That’s changed, there’s more depth at the top end, multiple parties, stronger inquiry, buyers showing up at the pointy end of campaigns.
“Move-in-ready trophy homes are commanding premiums because people are paying to avoid the time and stress of rebuilding.
“Quality always sells, and Brighton’s consistency proves that. It’s as solid as it gets.”
Mr Lewenberg said Canterbury, Kew and Camberwell were also strengthening for “high-end names”, each driven by education and heritage appeal.
“They already sit in the elite bracket,” he said.
“Education catchments, tree-lined streets and international communities create compounding demand.
“Toorak will always have its gravitational pull, but these eastern-corridor suburbs are absolutely commanding attention.”
Further south, the Kay & Burton director said Portsea and Sorrento were seeing renewed interest from familiar names.
“Smart money knows this is a rare buying window,” Mr Lewenberg said.
“Aspirational families who’ve long wanted a coastal escape are acting now. The bell has rung, and the lifestyle play is back on.”
He pointed to footy figures Max Gawn and Patrick Dangerfield, along with entertainers who prefer discretion, as buyers on the Mornington and Bellarine peninsulas and Surf Coast.
Kay & Burton prestige director Darren Lewenberg.
Mortgage broker and buyers’ advocate Madeleine Roberts.
Mortgage broker and buyers’ advocate Madeleine Roberts said prestige buying was as much about identity as investment.
“Location is everything,” Ms Roberts said.
“People will sacrifice a feature or two on the house to secure the right postcode, telling themselves they can renovate later.
But Ms Roberts warned against aspirational first-home buyers chasing “a one-bedroom foot in the door” in celebrity suburbs just for bragging rights.
“That’s not strategy, that’s risk,” she said.
“Buy where numbers work, build equity, rinse and repeat.
“That’s how you eventually afford a serious home in a prestige area, not by parking cash in a low-growth one-bedder for clout.”
The mortgage broker and buyer advocate said Melbourne’s prestige buyers were becoming more strategic and analytical.
“School zones, commute times and resale potential are non-negotiable,” Ms Roberts said.
“The smartest buyers know prestige has to perform. Brighton, Toorak and Canterbury all do, but for different reasons, and that’s why you’ll always see big names gravitate back to them.”
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