Rumours of the death of the Melbourne market have been greatly exaggerated.
While media is full of feverish headlines and soundbites about falling demand and collapsing prices, our research proves it simply isn’t so.
The Melbourne market is renowned for its resilience in tough times and our latest quarterly survey has confirmed it, with busy sales activity and solid price outcomes – particularly in the cheaper markets.
In the Winter 2022 survey three months ago, we identified 194 Melbourne suburbs as either rising or consistency markets.
This new quarterly survey has found an almost identical number – 193 suburbs with persistently good sales activity, despite the disruption of rising interest rates, cost-of-living pressures and persistently negative media.
That so many Melbourne locations have been able to maintain forward momentum, despite all the negative forces, is testimony to the strength of the city, which was named as the nation’s No.1 growth economy in the July 2022 edition of the State of the States report by CommSec.
As I have observed previously, there are two sectors with particular strength in the Melbourne market:-
- The cheaper outer-ring areas
- The inner-city suburbs dominated by units
The common feature of these two stand-out market sectors is relative affordability.
All of the municipalities in the outer-ring precincts of Greater Melbourne are dominated by suburbs classified as rising markets.
The theme here is clear: buyers in the Melbourne market are chasing affordability.
Another manifestation of that theme is an uplift in activity in inner-city areas where apartments are the dominant product.
In the City of Melbourne, 8 of the 10 suburbs analysed have rising momentum.
With international borders open and overseas migrants and students returning, demand from renters and buyers of apartments has risen – and vacancy rates have dropped markedly.
And with the price gap between houses and apartments now wider than ever before, this is now becoming an emerging trend in Melbourne and other major cities.
Many of the Middle Melbourne precincts are also doing well.
Generally, it’s the top end of the Melbourne market which has declined the most, in terms of the buying activity, although there remain solid growth markets in these precincts as well.
Whether it’s the cheaper outer ring areas, the popular Middle Melbourne suburbs or the inner-city apartment precincts, there’s still plenty of life in the Melbourne property market.
