Geelong’s rapid growth can cause affordability warning
Geelong rising property price raise concerns for the affordability if it maintains the upward trend.
Greater Geelong recorded the strongest house price growth in Victoria over the June quarter, according to the Domain Group House Price Report released on Thursday.
The area, which included suburbs from Lara (about 20 kilometres north of Geelong city) to Leopold (10 kilometres to the south) saw the median house price jump 3.7 per cent for the quarter to $530,000.
House prices have increased 15.2 per cent over the past year, much higher than Melbourne’s 0.5 per cent annual growth. While the area remains much cheaper than Melbourne, some Geelong suburbs, including the city centre and Newtown, were creeping closer to Melbourne prices with medians above $720,000.
Geelong has seen the huge jump from $350,000 to $500,000.
Melbourne expats have boosted Geelong’s population, which grew by almost 10 per cent between 2012 and 2017 to nearly 197,000. Data released on Friday from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed it had the fourth-highest net migration in the country, with more than 4000 people moving to Geelong between 2016 and 2017.
Infrastructure projects including the ring road and train connections to Melbourne, the relocation of government agencies such as WorkSafe and the TAC, and planned improvements to Avalon Airport to enable it to offer international services, have all contributed to Geelong’s growing popularity, Professor Johnson said.
The Committee for Geelong, a group of local business people and leaders, presented a report to State Parliament on Thursday to cement Geelong’s role as a “second city”, and has called on the Victorian Planning Authority to take a more active role in Geelong’s housing and infrastructure future.
Other regional areas also outperformed Melbourne for house price growth, including the Surf Coast with 3.1 per cent growth to $825,000, Wodonga (3.2 per cent to $360,000) and Mildura (2.6 per cent to $287,250).