By Matthew Sims
West Footscray’s house sale prices have dropped into six figures, according to Real Estate Institute of Victoria’s [REIV] June quarterly median report.
The median sale price for West Footscray houses during the April to June period was $940,000, which was a 16.8 per cent drop.
Other significant drops in median house prices within Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay included Williamstown (9.6 per cent), Laverton (7.6 per cent), Seddon (4.6 per cent) and Footscray (3.8 per cent).
Altona North’s median sale prices for house increased by two per cent to reach $960,000.
In terms of median sale price increases, Spotswood’s house prices jumped by 22 per cent to $1.41 million, while Yarraville increased by 9.3 per cent to $1.48 million and Altona reached $1.29 million due to a two per cent increase.
Braybrook’s median sale prices for houses also rose by 1.7 per cent to $834,000.
Jas Stephens director and auctioneer Tate Moore said the recent cash rate target increase had contributed to a general slowing within the market.
“With another interest rate rise in the next couple of weeks, that will slow things down as well,” he said.
“The next six months will be a fairly slow and stagnant market.”
Mr Moore said despite values dropping by about five to 10 per cent recently and clearance rates at about 50 per cent within the western suburbs of Melbourne, he said the market would bounce back.
Outer Melbourne houses or those 20 kilometres or more from the CBD reached their highest-ever quarterly median price, with a 0.9 per cent increase to $856,000.
REIV president Richard Simpson said the market remained “strong”, especially across regional Victoria.
“As expected, we saw a slight decrease in metro Melbourne as the market adapts to the current rising interest rate environment,” he said.
In metropolitan Melbourne, median house prices dropped 2.9 per cent from $1,113,500 to $1,081,000 million, while the annual median house price increased by 13.5 per cent.
