The shift towards work from home arrangements has been linked to skyrocketing property prices in across the Yarra Ranges recently.
House prices in the Hills are at an all-time high, with Cockatoo’s median house price soaring by 14.4% and agents seeing houses selling for million dollar price tags in the scenic town.
Bell Real Estate Emerald Property Consultant Aaron Day said he personally knows three people who used to work in the inner CBD who now work from home.
“I think that makes a huge difference in that people don’t need to live in the inner eastern suburbs anymore to get into work. We are getting a lot of people out of Box Hill, Blackburn areas coming up to the Hills so they’re not looking at a fence while working from home but can have these nice views,” Mr Day said.
“I think a lot of people had a lot of time to think when they were in lockdown, couples who would usually be out working had time to talk about plans for the future,” he said.
House prices in Emerald and surrounds have also boomed, up by 10.6% according to the latest REIV residential sales data.
“Before Covid, we had 50 percent of our clients moving around the area, upsizing, downsizing, but now I’d say its around 70 percent from out of our area. People who used to have acreage are also going further out,” Mr Day said.
Homes in Tecoma have also seen a price hike, with the median house price now sitting at $789k, up 12.7%.
Ranges First National Real Estate Director Mick Dolphin said the Ranges-wide price increase began after the federal election in 2019, stabilised when Covid-19 hit in March 2020 and then “went crazy” as soon as we got out of the hard lockdown in October last year.
“Everyone is escaping from the suburbs. The biggest difference we have noticed is people from the inner city, Richmond, Brunswick and Northcote, all coming up. We used to have a few of those buyers but not that many so that has really increased and it’s mostly because of the lifestyle and that they can now work from home,” Mr Dolphin said.
Mr Dolphin said the high demand for Hills housing is “very much to do with work arrangements”.
“When they can work from home, even if it’s only three days a week and they’re still travelling two days, there is lots more opportunity for them to be an hour from Melbourne with a much better lifestyle,” he said.
Mr Dolphin said most properties are selling between two and six weeks, with an average of around 22 days.
“Typically over the years the average has been 72 days so it’s a lot quicker,” he said.
Mr Day said “you start to worry if it goes past a week”, with houses typically selling within the two week period after being put on the market.
“I had this big campaign ready to go and before the photo board went up we had 12 offers and 48 groups had been through a place in Nangana,” Mr Day said.
“It doesn’t matter where you are, Berwick, Pakenham, Warragul, you can be anywhere and the market is crazy,” he said.
Mr Dolphin said it is normal to average four to five offers on each house, but sometimes agents receive up to 15 in the current housing climate.
His advice – “housing prices are at their peak”.
“I personally think they are at their peak. If someone was thinking of selling I think they should seriously think about selling before it gets to spring. I have a funny feeling that we are at the peak of the market and don’t think it’s going to continue, it has been out of control,” Mr Dolphin said.
“You can’t time it perfectly, you’ve got to just buy when you can and enjoy the wave,” he said.
But Mr Day believes house prices will plateau, with the high prices becoming the “new benchmark” for the area.
