A wrap up of the Melbourne property market in 2009
January 6, 2010
The Real Estate Institute of Victoria has released results of the 2009 property market, revealing the suburb in highest demand, the suburb with the most sales and the street with the most sales.
REIV CEO Enzo Raimondo said that the second half of the year has been characterised by strong demand for residential property driven by an improving economy, increasing population, low interest rates and financial assistance for first home buyers. A lack of supply was noticeable in the first part of the year, but the strong marketplace saw supply surge in the last two months with buyers more than happy to step-in.
“Over the last six months all the factors that are required for a strong property market were present in Melbourne. This has resulted in suburbs right across the price ranges experiencing strong demand and significant increases in price,” Mr Raimondo advised. “The Victorian economy is performing well, population is growing and there is good confidence about the future, factors which will ensure the 2010 property market commences on a solid base.
“Strong demand has been recorded in both affordable and expensive suburbs, ensuring that many vendors have achieved very good results, a trend that the REIV expects to see continue in 2010 due to population growth and the constraints on supply.”
Property market key statistics
· 22,586 auctions held; 81 per cent clearance rate, compared to 63 per cent last year
· 18,364 sold at auction - totalling $12.1 billion
· 20 per cent more homes sold than in 2008, but still 10 per cent less than in 2007
· A peak clearance rate of 87 per cent reached on the 27-28 June
· The greatest number of homes sold at auction on one weekend was 867, on 12-13 December
· Rental vacancy rate for Melbourne between 1.2 and 1.5 per cent over the year
Top five streets for sales in 2009
· St Kilda Rd, Melbourne:197 sales
· Nepean Hwy, Frankston: 102 sales
· City Rd, Southbank: 97 sales
· Kavanagh St, Southbank: 73 sales
· Queens Rd, Melbourne: 70 sales
Top five suburbs for all sales
· Reservoir: 1229 sales
· Richmond: 1102 sales
· Frankston: 977 sales
· Melbourne: 963 sales
· St Kilda: 896 sales
Five suburbs with highest number of auction sales
· Richmond: 432 auction sales
· Reservoir: 385 auction sales
· St Kilda: 301 auction sales
· Glen Iris: 293 auction sales
· South Yarra: 271 auction sales
Five suburbs with highest increase in median price (all dwellings) 2009 compared to 2008
· East Melbourne: 41 per cent increase in median
· Eaglemont: 29 per cent increase in median
· Dallas: 27 per cent increase in median
· Toorak: 21 per cent increase in median
· Footscray: 20 per cent increase in median