By Goya Dmytryshchak
Williamstown’s median house price rose by nearly 16 per cent in the September quarter, bucking the trend of a levelling or correction of the market, Real Estate Institute of Victoria data shows.
REIV chief executive Gil King said the Hobsons Bay and Maribyrnong markets had performed well in the past year, with suburbs including Williamstown, Maribyrnong, Laverton, Braybrook and Altona Meadows recording growth of between 5 and 15 per cent.
“Looking at the quarterly increase, picturesque Williamstown was the standout performer with the median house price increasing 15.9 per cent from $1.51million to $1.75million between June and September,” he said.
“Williamstown seems to be bucking the trend we are seeing more broadly across Melbourne where the median house price in blue chip suburbs is stagnating or declining slightly, so this is good news for Williamstown property owners who may be considering selling.”
Greg Hocking Elly Partners director Wayne Elly said an area such as Williamstown, with limited and unique properties, was largely unaffected by trends.
“It’s kind of consistent with what’s happened in the past when we’ve had a downturn in the market because Williamstown’s such a small marketplace, it’s a little isolated,” he said.
“For unique properties in the Williamstown market, there’s always buyers.”
Sweeney Estate Agents Williamstown director Wayne Sweeney said there had been considerably lower turnover and quite a lot of sales at the top end over $3million in Williamstown, adding to the median.
“Anyone who sold before Easter basically sold on an eight-year high,” he said.
“With the banks tightening their lending, it’s really slowed it up.
“If you’ve got something that was around $1million, it’s now more so $900,00-$925,000.”
In the September quarter, Laverton’s median rose 5.4 per cent from $575,000 to $606,000. The suburb’s annual growth was 10.2 per cent.
Maribyrnong recorded a quarterly increase of 6.7 per cent from $1,016,000 to $1,084,500, and 9.4 per cent annual growth.
Altona recorded a quarterly drop of 8.7 per cent from $1,005,000 to $917,500, which still represented 3.3 per cent annual growth.
West Footscray’s quarterly median fell 8.1 per cent from $969,000 to $890,500, while its annual growth was 4.7 per cent.
Braybrook’s quarterly median went down 4.1 per cent from $780,000 to $748,000, but was up 6.3 per cent annually.
Newport’s quarterly median was $1,080,000 (up 5.1 per cent), Yarraville’s $1,151,000 (up 1.8 per cent), Maidstone’s $798,500 (down 5.4 per cent), Seddon’s $1,035,000 (down 1.6 per cent) and Footscray experienced no change at $950,000.
