Sunbury and Macedon Ranges recorded mixed house prices this quarter, with some suburbs experiencing a sharp drop in median sales prices.
Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) released the quarterly median housing prices, showing the median house price grew in four Macedon Ranges suburbs and dropped in five.
Prices in New Gisborne dropped by 7.9 per cent this quarter to a median price of $875,000.
Woodend prices also dropped by 7.1 per cent and Macedon prices by 6.8 per cent, with median prices of $925,000 and $1.2 million respectively.
Lancefield prices recorded a strong rise of 9.2 per cent this quarter, with a median price of $715,000.
Mount Macedon Realty director Lisa Fowler said recorded sale prices are reflections of transactions rather than a real percentage change.
“The Macedon Ranges is a stable market that hasn’t been all that price responsive to the market in the past, so what we’ve done is sort of sit there at our price level without having significant price reductions,” Ms Fowler said.
“[This] has resulted in a slowing of actual sales, so now we’re getting some sales through which does then result in a perceived increase,” she said.
“I would go as far as to say that the market has potentially recognised that we are at the bottom of this property market stagnation, and buyers now have an improved level of confidence in jumping back into the market.”
She said that Macedon Ranges vendors have been “quite stoic with their position on price,“ and rather than reduce their prices, they have decided to wait until the market improves.
Sunbury house prices dropped by 3.5 per cent this quarter to a median price of $660,000 and Diggers Rest prices grew by 1.5 per cent to match Sunbury’s median.
House prices in greater Melbourne dropped by 2.1 per cent.
Oscar Parry
