The Melbourne suburbs where properties are selling the fastest
The Melbourne suburbs where properties are selling the fastest
Houses and units across Melbourne’s inner north and outer west are selling faster than anywhere else in the state, new data has revealed.
In the latest data gathered by Domain on how quickly properties are now selling, the Darebin-South region has emerged as the hottest area in Melbourne in terms of the dramatic reduction in the number of days a property is on the market until it sells.
Houses in the Darebin-South region, which includes suburbs such as Preston, Reservoir and Northcote, are selling in just 46 days (down from 124 days this time last year) and units are selling in 55 days (down from 110 days).
Houses in nearby Brunswick-Coburg are being snapped up as quickly as Darebin-South, the data showed, also taking 46 days.
Sunbury in Melbourne’s outer north-west, which was flooded by buyers throughout 2020, saw the days on the market for houses drop from 53 to 49 days.
The data compared the days on market between January 2020 and January 2021 for private treaty sales only. It did not include data on auction campaigns that may have been moved forward.
It showed that across Melbourne, units saw the biggest drop in the number of days it took to sell, with the number of days on the market falling to 85 days in January this year, from 94 days in January 2020.
In comparison, the time it took to sell a house in Melbourne rose from an average of 70 days in January 2020 to 71 days in January this year.
Buyers agent Cate Bakos said unit sales were doing well thanks mostly to a rush of first-home buyers. Government incentives, including stamp duty discounts and extremely low interest rates, were driving them to make decisions quickly, she said.
“There’s an increased appetite from first-home buyers because of the hefty discounts on stamp duty – and the fact they don’t have to pay stamp duty if the property is priced under $600,000 – and record low interest rates,” Ms Bakos said.
“Investors are seeing this as lucrative too, but there hasn’t been as much uptake,” she said.
Partner and auctioneer at Jellis Craig Northcote Anthony Lapadula said buyers were so keen to snap up homes in the Darebin-South suburbs they were constantly making offers prior to auctions.
“Naturally, supply and demand are factors – there are a lot more buyers than what is available for sale, seeing lots of competition,” Mr Lapadula said. “Secondly, what I think is fuelling faster sales is record low interest rates and the commentary around it that this is going to last for a few years.”
In Sunbury, first-home buyers were snapping up houses, some within a few weeks, as people rushed back to the market following Melbourne’s multiple lockdowns last year.
Raine and Horne Sunbury selling agent James Rizk said sales in the region were the best he had ever seen.
“We have so many enquiries and we just don’t have enough properties to sell,” Mr Rizk said. “A lot of people want to move into Sunbury, but not a lot of people want to move out.”
Mr Rizk said a large portion of the market were first-home buyers, with many making good offers within a week of a home being listed.
Second and third-home buyers looking for more space were also keen to move to the area, he said.
On the other side of the city, in the outer east’s Maroondah region, which includes Ringwood and Croydon, unit sales were booming also thanks to first-home buyers.
Although the days on market there grew slightly from January 2020 – to 63 days in 2021 – the area still has one of the fastest sell times in Melbourne.
Barry Plant Heathmont and Ringwood’s Tamazin Edwards said like many other suburbs, demand was far outstripping supply of properties for sale.
“Heathmont, Ringwood East and parts of Ringwood are very popular,” Ms Edwards said. “People are coming from the Doncaster and Mitcham area because they get more value for money.”
Low interest rates and stamp duty concessions were making buying very attractive for first-home buyers, Ms Edwards said.
At the other end of the spectrum, some areas have seen a significant increase in the time it takes to sell properties.
In Manningham, which includes the suburbs of Doncaster and Templestowe, the days on market for houses rose from 60 days in January 2020 to 121 days last month.
Fletchers Real Estate director and auctioneer Tim Heavyside said he wasn’t surprised by the rise in days on the market in the area.
“We were in lockdown for over 110 days,” Mr Heavyside said. “Some people just kept their houses on the market, which would play into those figures.”
Mr Heavyside said while prices for homes were rising, some vendors were waiting to reach the prices they had paid for a property in 2017 when the property market peaked.
“They’re trying to get their money back,” Mr Heavyside said. “It’s a big municipality, so some parts are selling better than others.”
He believed the days on market would improve, as Melbourne’s market continued throughout the year.
Ref: MELISSA HEAGNEY | SENIOR JOURNALIST (on 18 Feb 2021). The Melbourne suburbs where properties are selling the fastest. Retrieved from https://www.domain.com.au/news/days-on-market-fall-across-melbourne-as-the-market-improves-1026815/.
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