By Tyler Wright
Four towns in the Dandenong Ranges have been listed in the top 20 family suburbs with the highest increase in inventory over the past three months, according to a report commissioned by a Melbourne home loan provider.
Well Money’s housing market analysis puts Silvan in third spot for the hottest family suburb in Victoria, but Belgrave-based Real Estate agent Mick Dolphin says buying activity is currently at pre-covid levels.
“There’s a lot more families moving within the region from outer Eastern Melbourne suburbs like Pakenham, Ferntree Gully or Boronia and coming up here looking for the lifestyle of bigger blocks, quiet and less traffic,” Mr Dolphin said.
This demographic saw a drastic shift in early 2020, however, when buyers from inner city suburbs such as Northcote and Brunswick flocked to the Dandenong Ranges for a change of scenery.
“In the middle of Covid, 80 per cent of the buyers were from inner city Melbourne – that’s extremely high. Normally it would have been less than 20 per cent,” Mr Dolphin said.
“Over the past three months people were starting to think ,‘I should sell.’ There was a bit of a worry that prices might go backwards – and they were trying to sell before that happened – but they started to see that hasn’t happened and now they’re not so worried about moving,” the agent said of the current market.
Well Money’s report, which used data from market researcher Suburbtrends, also showed Selby, Kallista, Kalorama and The Basin were some of the most popular suburbs for families.
Well Money CEO Scott Spencer said the suburbs in the top 20 ranking contain a lot of families, owner-occupiers, are relatively close to the Melbourne CBD and “above average” in terms of education and occupational status.
“Over the past three months, inventory levels have increased in all the suburbs, which means there’s more stock on market, buyers have more options and downward pressure is being placed on prices, which should translate into discounts sooner or later,” Mr Spencer said.
Mick Dolphin said while pricing seems to be holding steady for the year so far, once people begin moving to Australia the market may see demand increase and inner city dwellers have now had their minds opened to the possibility of a different lifestyle.
“A lot of the people like the fact that the school sizes up here are a lot smaller, and the perception is that it’s more personable, in terms of interactions with the teachers and the students. When we talk about the community, that’s part of it too, because they are not just a number, there’s a little bit more personal attachment and personal interaction,” he said.
“Growing families with kids getting older or having a second or third child and needing more space; that was our typical demographic [pre-Covid] and it’s returning back to that.”
