The Geelong suburbs where homes sell every single day
Armstrong Creek, Lara and Highton, along with Torquay each scored more than 365 residential sales in the 12 months to July, new PropTrack figures reveal.
Sellers in Geelong's biggest-selling suburbs are also enjoying the injection of competition from investors as buyers seek affordable entries, good yields and long-term growth prospects.
Armstrong Creek is Geelong's biggest market, with 455 home sales in FY25 almost 100 greater than the same time 12 months ago.
The median house price has sat around $650,000 at Armstrong Creek over the year, while the rental yield improved to 4.24 per cent.
House and unit sales combined to crack more than 400 sales in Lara, while 367 homes transacted each in Highton and Torquay.
McGrath, Armstrong Creek agent Sam Parsons said a good portion of sales in the suburb are to investors in the $650,000 to $700,000 range.
He estimated investors now represent up to 40 per cent of buyers in the growth corridor.
'The big portion in that price range is first-home buyers, or people with that budget to get in the market, because there is now that true fear of missing out in that price range,' Mr Parsons said.
'There's genuine competition against them now, which wasn't there nine months ago.'
He suggests some investors may have 'jumped the gun' when they sold up as the state government hiked land taxes and other compliance costs.
'They do add up, but that's part and parcel of owning an investment property,' Mr Parsons said.
'The ones that held on, or that (will) hold on to them long term, are always going to be better off. Land tax and other things are not great for an investor when the bill comes, but when the investor looks at the bigger picture, their investments are doing well for them.'
Mr Parsons said buyers were seeking homes aged between one to five years, which required less maintenance and the ability to claim depreciation against their taxable income.
He said the best time to claim depreciation on an investment property was in the first 10 years.
The PropTrack data shows a 5.6 per cent drop in Highton's median house price over the past 12 months to $861,000.
But Hayeswinckle, Highton agent Michelle Winckle said while more locals were downsizing, contributing to the decline, there was a real lack of stock in the lower price brackets now driving competition.
'To be honest, people are misreading the market – they don't realise how good the Highton market is,' Ms Winckle said.
'A lot of people believe Highton has dropped, but there's actually not enough stock in Highton – we've got more buyers than we actually have sellers.'
That was evident last weekend when a three-bedroom house in Strickland Ave attracted 10 bidders.
The house was listed with a $640,000 reserve price, but sold to an investor for $751,000.
Ms Winckle said plenty of people were looking to downsize in Highton, while family buyers were also a sizeable portion of the market.
Investors and families tended to compete for similar properties in Highton, because the fundamentals driving interest in the suburb were good schools, access to shopping and the Geelong Ring Road.
'It's a very popular family area because it's close to all the schools. There's so many schools around us, so Highton is good for that.'
Elite Buyers Agents' Geelong buyers agent Vicky Whittaker said people waiting for the market to rise were contributing to the shortage of sub-$900,000 homes in Highton.
'I think there is a lot of vendors thinking the price is going to go up, they're going to get more growth on the property, so they're sitting on their hands.'
Ray White Lara agent Matthew Wade-Taylor said another cut to interest rates after better inflation figures this week would increase competition in the market.
Lara's $682,000 median house price had slipped 2.7 per cent over 12 months, but showed more signs of improvement over the short term as the average time to sell a house has also been slashed.
'We were getting two, three people at an open homes, sometimes zero (12 months ago). Now properties at a price below $700,000 we're getting to the first open sometimes 10 to 15 people.'
Mr Wade-Taylor said families were the biggest demographic for mid-range properties, with investors typically keen below $650,000.
First-home buyers are typically coming out on top if they're coming up against investors, he said.
'Advocates are coming with a lot of conditions whereas first-home buyers know there's a bit of competition so it's putting them in a position where they have to tighten up their conditions.'
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