The top-performing areas of 2024 for price growth show a trend towards battler suburbs. 8 Ravenswood Ave, Eynesbury sold in October for $720,000.
Melbourne’s battler ‘burbs were the big winners of 2024’s housing market, as affordable addresses dominated the list of the city’s top-performing areas.
While Toorak took out top spot for the year as its $4.662m median house value rose $251,000 (5.7 per cent), Pakenham Upper ranked second, with its $1.372m typical home gaining $71,600 (5.5 per cent).
But new figures from PropTrack show the next seven top-performing areas were dominated by markets with median prices below $800,000, starting with Eynesbury to Melbourne’s west where a typical house now costs $706,000 after a $34,000 (5.1 per cent) jump in the past year.
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Cranbourne South also outperformed with a $35,500 (4.7 per cent) lift, followed by Coolaroo and Dallas which both gained about $23,000 as their median prices rose 4.5 per cent and 4.7 per cent respectively.
PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty said despite 222 suburbs losing ground across the city over the past year, the more affordable end of the market that had broadly outperformed.
“Over the past 12 months we have seen properties valued at less than $1m have increased by 1.9 per cent, year on year,” Ms Flaherty said.
SEE THE FULL LIST OF SUBURBS BY HOME VALUE CHANGES
“Those over $3m have fallen by 7.6 per cent.”
In this regard, the economist said Toorak had been an outlier — but noted the huge range of prices advertised in the suburb, from $1m-$2m all the way up to $100m, could make its figures more volatile.
A two-bedroom unit in Rowville sold in December for $730,000.
Ms Flaherty said it was likely buyers whose budgets had been reduced by high interest rates were concentrating on more affordable areas.
She added that the average time on market for houses under $1m had also fallen over 2024 to 31 days, compared to 43 for those priced from $1m-$3m.
“The conventional wisdom was that the closer you are to the city, the stronger the growth in home prices,” Ms Flaherty said.
“At the moment it doesn’t look like that is the case.”
A four-bedroom house at 47 Flanagan Cres, Cranbourne South recently sold for $770,000.
She added that the rationale to live close to the city had been reduced as working from home made it easier to live further out of town.
Despite this, Marshall White group sales director John Bongiorno said Toorak’s prevalence of high-quality homes helped ensure interest in almost any market conditions.
Late last year, a number of homes listed with $20m-plus price tags were among those to notch sales and helping to edge the median price up.
“No other suburb has the calibre of property that we saw in Toorak in 2024,” Mr Bongiorno said.
Pakenham Upper, which ranked second for property price growth for 2024, had this six-bedroom house sell for $1.91m in December.
He added that the family home being one of the last tax-free bastions meant that it continued to entice renovations and upgrades for homes in the suburb that continually raised the bar for Melbourne’s most elite addresses — and could lead to further price rises in 2025.
But Ms Flaherty said affordable hubs would also likely continue to do well until there was a rate cut, and potentially even after that if there were not significant reductions by the Reserve Bank.
Realestate.com.au economist Anne Flaherty remarked that the more affordable end of Melbourne’s market broadly outperformed in 2024.
Affordable units could also do well in 2025, with apartments, townhouses and flats in Albion jumping 16.7 per cent from $340,300 to $397,700 in 2024.
Douglas Kay Real Estate’s Peter Kay said the introduction of some new townhouses with price tags as high as $850,000 would have had an impact, but the area’s older one and two-bedroom flats had attracted strong competition particularly those priced in the 200,000 range last year.
“The flats are some of the cheapest you will find in Melbourne,” Mr Kay said.
5 Amberlea Circuit in Taylors Hill sold for $520,000 in November.
Ms Flaherty said it was surprising to see the Mornington Peninsula and Melbourne’s South East continue to dominate the list of the city’s underperforming areas, with Officer South, Sorrento and Somers tracking reductions from 7.4 per cent to 7.7 per cent.
“Other similar regions around the country are starting to recoup the losses after the post-pandemic boom, but in the Mornington area we are seeing home values continue to correct downwards,” she said.
Ms Flaherty said a mix of increasing land tax and a new Airbnb levy could have contributed to a reduction in people purchasing holiday homes, as well as an increase in those selling them to underpin the ongoing declines.
The top performing regional areas were dominated by those that were attracting people to live in them, as opposed to holiday home markets.
Near Mildura, Merbein’s $334,000 median house price rose $30,400 (10 per cent). Kerang on the Murray River near Swan Hill had a $299,122 typical home value gain of $23,300 (8.7 per cent).
Venus Bay near Phillip Island had the biggest fall in regional Victoria, with a $44,000 (7.5 per cent) decline to $545,400. Ocean Grove on the Surf Coast also recorded a substantive 6.3 per cent drop from $974,700 to $913,400.
MELBOURNE’S WORST PERFORMING HOUSE SUBURBS IN 2024
Officer South: $759,231 — down $63,237 (-7.7%)
Sorrento: $1,982,433 — down $162,161 (-7.6%)
Somers: $1,506,476 — down $120,485 (-7.4%)
Blairgowrie: $1,440,673 — down $107,452 (-6.9%)
Rye: $983,662 — down $63,537 (-6.1%)
Collingwood: $1,108,623 — down $71,355 (-6.0%)
Balnarring: $1,326,561 — down $78,248 (-5.6%)
Crib Point: $727,747 — down $40,788 (-5.3%)
St Andrews Beach: $1,504,154 — down $82,421 (-5.2%)
Tootgarook: $763,279 — down $40,608 (-5.1%)
Source: PropTrack
*Tracks suburb median house value change across 2024
MELBOURNE’S WORST PERFORMING UNIT SUBURBS IN 2024
Kingsville: $490,359 — down $24,618 (-4.8%)
Gisborne: $600,198 — down $27,277 (-4.3%)
Black Rock: $1,025,899 — down $46,169 (-4.3%)
Taylors Lakes: $487,781 — down $21,326 (-4.2%)
Huntingdale: $713,248 — down $30,284 (-4.1%)
Dromana: $745,268 — down $30,606 (-3.9%)
South Kingsville: $629,004 — down $25,657 (-3.9%)
St Kilda East: $561,281 — down $22,778 (-3.9%)
Capel Sound: $614,040 — down $23,511 (-3.7%)
West Footscray: $534,550 — down $20,340 (-3.7%)
Source: PropTrack
*Tracks suburb median house value change across 2024
MELBOURNE’S TOP PERFORMING HOUSE SUBURBS IN 2024
Toorak: $4,661,764 — up $251,191 (5.7%)
Pakenham Upper: $1,372,373 — up $71,611 (5.5%)
Eynesbury: $706,396 — up $34,207 (5.1%)
Cranbourne South: $790,056 — up $35,587 (4.7%)
Coolaroo: $523,899 — up $23,431 (4.7%)
Dallas: $536,656 — up $22,904 (4.5%)
Longwarry: $575,937 — up $21,066 (3.8%)
Junction Village: $668,177 — up $24,305 (3.8%)
Meadow Heights: $573,456 — up $20,197 (3.7%)
Lyndhurst: $930,592 — up $32,605 (3.6%)
Source: PropTrack
*Tracks suburb median house value growth across 2024
MELBOURNE’S TOP PERFORMING UNIT SUBURBS IN 2024
Albion: $397,700 — up $57,369 (16.9%)
Rowville: $734,445 — up $43,256 (6.3%)
Werribee South: $506,407 — up $27,395 (5.7%)
Chelsea Heights: $691,924 — $36,314 (5.5%)
Travancore: $359,915 — up $18,108 (5.3%)
Taylors Hill: $509,869 — up $25,628 (5.3%)
Berwick: $676,971 — up $29,853 (4.6%)
Clyde North: $583,652 up $23,424 (4.2%)
Kurunjang: $439,958 — up $17,241 (4.1%)
Narre Warren: $546,394 — up $19,474 (3.7%)
Source: PropTrack
*Tracks suburb median unit value growth across 2024
Want to see your suburb? See the full list of every suburb in Australia by home value changes
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