- Average days on market for regional Victoria fell below 40, with a median of 35
- In Melbourne, days on market is down to 32 days
- Some regional towns in Victoria have slashed their selling time by 100 days
The Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) has today released data showing that property in regional Victoria is being bought at a pace not seen since 2010.
Days on market is used as a measure to give an insight into buyer interest activity and market.
Following the protracted lockdown in 2020, regional suburbs have been on a hot run for six consecutive months with an average of under 40 days on the market and a median of 35 days in May.
To put this into perspective, according to REIV, the median time to sell a property in metropolitan Melbourne is 32 days, with properties in outer Melbourne selling in an average of 22 days.
Like regional Victoria, this activity in Melbourne is among the shortest seen in over a decade.
Private property listings and sales remain the preferred approach in regional Victoria – about 84% of all activity falls under this category.
Five towns recorded significant decreases in days on market, slashing their sales time by at least 60 days, compared to the figures in May 2020. Lock Sport, a coastal tourist town in Central Gippsland, for example, cut its average days on market by more than 100 days while another 21 towns saw a reduction of at least 30 days.
March quarterly data revealed historic price increases in regional Victoria, with house prices surpassing $500,000 for the first time – just below the current Perth median.
This data supports the notion that more Melbournians are retreating to regional areas. This has been fueled by flexible working arrangements, along with a reassessment of lifestyle priorities, induced by the pandemic. Melbourne has endured, by far, the longest lockdowns Australia has witnessed (yet).
South Western Victoria – SQM Research
[Select part of the chart to zoom in on various years, and ‘reset zoom’ button to return]
To reinforce the demand in parts of regional Victoria, after remaining fairly subdued for much of the last decade, weekly asking property prices began to rise in late 2018, before accelerating in 2020. Despite a small decline earlier this year for both houses and units, prices remain at relatively high levels.
