Sea-changers are seizing opportunities to downsize in Bellarine Peninsula and Geelong hot spots, new data shows.
PEXA Group’s latest Cash Purchasers data shows two Bellarine Peninsula postcodes were among the state’s top areas for people buying without need for a mortgage.
The data found about half the property transactions were made in cash in these two Bellarine Peninsula postcodes stretching along the coastline between Portarlington and Point Lonsdale, which were featured among the 10 highest areas in Victoria.
Cash purchases are property sales where buyers don’t require a mortgage.
RELATED: Couple discover lost treasures in hoarder home
The reason beachside locations could jump in price in 2025
Moolap’s most expensive house poised to break own record
Almost half of property purchases were in cash in the 3225 postcode including Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff aerial in the year to July 2024. Picture: Alan Barber
It found 48.8 per cent of property sales were done this way in the 3225 postcode of Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale, and 50.4 per cent in the 3223 postcode from Portarlington to St Leonards.
The PEXA data showed one in four residential properties in Geelong were cash purchases, higher than the 24.2 per cent across the whole of Victoria.
PEXA Group chief economist Julie Toth said affordability was a significant factor for downsizer and retiree purchasers.
“Regional locations feature heavily but not exclusively among Victoria’s postcodes with the higher proportions of cash buyers, offering an attractive alternative to lifestyle benefits,” Ms Toth said.
“For downsizers, retirees, sea-changers and tree-changers in particular, these regions provide a compelling alternative to metropolitan Melbourne.
Cash purchasing is also significant in the 3223 postcode including St Leonards. Picture: Alan Barber
“Most of the regional sea-change postcodes that are popular with Victorian cash buyers have a lower median price to the city.”
Point Lonsdale and St Leonards were the two most expensive postcodes to feature in the top 10, but the analysis showed cash buyers were still looking for cheaper homes.
“Everywhere when we look at the median value of cash purchases tends to be lower than the suburb average,” Ms Toth said.
“It tells us that people who are buying without a mortgage do tend to – even in an expensive area – go for the lower priced property, so they’re after units and townhouses.”
The median value of a cash purchase in Point Lonsdale was $808,000, about $350,000 below the town’s median house price.
About 36 per cent of residential deal in Geelong and Newtown were cash purchases.
The median value of cash purchases in the 3223 postcode was $755,000, well below the median house price in Portarlington or Indented Head, but slightly above that of St Leonards.
Other parts of Geelong likely to be more impacted by downsizers included Clifton Springs (3222), Geelong and Newtown (3220), and Leopold, which had a rate of cash purchases of 36.2, 36.1 and 27 per cent respectively.
At least one in five homes were bought with cash in Newcomb (3219), Highton (3216) and Hamlyn Heights (3215), the data showed.
The data also reveals the areas where first-home buyers, and younger buyers are making a bigger impact on the market in areas such as Corio and Lara, where between 15 and 18 per cent of purchases respectively were made with cash.
English (US) · 