A range of Melbourne suburbs have recorded price falls over the past 12 months, despite a modest rise in house prices which defied market expectations. But the declines were modest.
The outer north’s Jacana recorded the biggest fall, at 6.6 per cent to $556,703, followed by Albert Park at 6.3 per cent to $2,275,200 and Alphington at 5.7 per cent to $1,938,181 on CoreLogic data.
There were 70 suburbs which recorded house price falls over the 12 months to November. CoreLogic’s head of research, Tim Lawless, said the neighbourhoods that recorded price falls appeared disparate at first blush, but that two main trends were in effect.
“The inner suburbs comprised the top seven of the 20 suburbs,” he said. “The inner suburbs tend to be considered affluent.
“The strength of the market upswing was around that inner fringe. Towards the end of the year, that was the area of the market that slowed the most visibly as well.”
On the other hand, outer suburbs were less insulated from the wider economy.
“These areas have shown much lower levels of growth through the year, especially early in the cycle,” Lawless said. “This is probably where households have been more thinly stretched and households have been feeling the cost of living crisis.”
Unit prices fell the most in Black Rock (down 9 per cent to $1,030,505), followed by Kingsville (7.7 per cent to $500,241) and Carlton (5.4 to $353,375).
The market weakness had caused expensive suburbs like Albert Park to become better value than they typically would be, said Belle Property Albert Park director David Wood. Buyers were less inclined to buy fixer-uppers because of issues with construction which had been prevalent all year.
“The unrenovated homes are what’s showing real value in the market, more than a year ago,” he said. “[The cost of] building materials are the big thing that we’re hearing. The turnaround time at council for permits is another reason.
(theage.com.au)
