Rural Victoria J ONAT H A N C H A NC E L L OR
Greener pastures City dwellers seeking a change of pace are heading to the hills and regional towns
Victoria’s extended coastline has long ranked as the most sought-after location luring residents away from Melbourne. But post pandemic there’s been competition from the greener inland regions and bustling boomtime towns outside of the city that are seeing unprecedented demand. Indeed, properties in regional Victoria saw a 7 per cent price spurt in the first quarter of 2021. CoreLogic ranked it as the best regional performer across the country, and it also outperformed all the capital cities, including Melbourne with its 4.9 per cent quarterly growth. Terry Ryder, from website Hotspotting, says the big upswing is occurring throughout regional Victoria. He noted the shift was already under way given the decade or so of technological adjustment but the abrupt changes to the workplace during the pandemic had seen an acceleration in the trend. Ray White Rural Victoria general manager Jason Hellyer says there are key buyer types, especially metropolitan retirees who are selling the family home in a rising market and using part of the proceeds to buy a regional home as well as increase their super balances. There are also high net worth families who are asset and cash rich and set on securing a prestige regional 32
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lifestyle property, coastal or country, that will be useful should Melburnians find themselves in another extended lockdown. There are also many metropolitan, middle-class full-time professionals securing a regional property with a view to permanent relocation in the future. Hellyer says that interest in owning a hobby farm is also increasingly a factor. “The thought of open space, coupled with the ability to potentially live off-grid and grow your own food is of interest to many.” Hobby farms are also being transformed into the boutique production of low-yield, high-quality organic food and beverages, “or simply the establishment of an Airbnb business”. Hellyer calculated that the statewide regional sales volume was around 15,000 compared with the final quarter of 2020 at 12,000, so volume was up around 24 per cent. “When you consider Melbourne’s median is now sitting around $1 million, if you’re selling in Melbourne and buying in regional Victoria, with a median of $500,000 you’ve got plenty of funds to secure something substantial and/or surplus funds for a significant renovation,” Hellyer says. He calculated the residential median for sales up to 4ha sat at
$712,500 in the Yarra Ranges Shire; at $870,000 in the Mornington Peninsula; at $588,000 in Greater Geelong City and in the Macedon Ranges Shire at $724,000. The cheapest of the six shires adjoining Melbourne were Mitchell at $480,000 and Murrindindi at $435,000. The most obvious demand has been for localities within a two-hour drive of the CBD that previously catered mainly for the premium weekender market but have now pivoted to more semi-permanent owners. Helen Sankey at RT Edgar Gisborne says most of her recent buyers have sold their properties in the city. “Gisborne is the first regional town out of the metropolitan area, and very appealing to families seeking to raise their children, feel safe and enjoy the country lifestyle,” she says. “We have beautiful homes and properties that, once the buyers sell in the metro areas, are affordable and they have money left over.” “Our projected population growth is the highest in the Macedon Ranges Shire because we are at the southern end of the Shire, closest to the city, along the Calder Highway and along the Melbourne Bendigo train line,” Sankey says. “I often ponder whether our crazy busy real estate market after the ‘ring of steel’ THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN
| MAY 8-9, 2021
