Herald Sun
Melbourne house prices hit record highs this year, before coronavirus flipped the property market on its head.
Impressive price gains led to greater Melbourne’s median house price rising 3.7 per cent to $893,000 in the March quarter, Real Estate Institute of Victoria data shows.
But state Treasury modelling suggests the progress could be cut short, with property prices predicted to fall by as much as 9 per cent, or about $80,000, during the pandemic.
REIV president Leah Calnan said the March quarterly results were an encouraging sign that the market could quickly recover after shutdown measures ended.
“We know there will be a reduced number of transactions, but that’s quite traditional coming into winter months anyway,” Ms Calnan said.
“There will be some level of price adjustment, but I’m optimistic that the property market is strong and we’ll see huge improvements in spring.”
Port Melbourne and Brighton houses showed some of the largest quarterly gains, with median prices up 8.4 per cent to $1.81 million and 10.1 per cent to $2.9 million respectively.
Northcote’s median unit sale price also sprung by a whopping 32 per cent to $745,000.
Melbourne’s outer ring also hit a new price record, with the house price median up 2.7 per cent to $695,500.
Peake Real Estate agent Andrew Brown said Melbourne’s outer southeastern suburbs had enormous buyer activity in January and February.
“Numbers have heavily reduced and our agents are coming in contact with a lot less prospective buyers due to the ban on inspections,” Mr Brown said.
“While there may be a decline in median prices to come, I think the underlying factors are still very good.
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