Property price boom

THE real estate bubble shows no signs of bursting on the Mornington Peninsula.

The Victorian Valuer-General figures – which is based on sales from the past decade – have shown Balnarring Beach and Somers achieved some of the highest growth in the state in that period, at more than 15 per cent.

Blane Paton of Balnarring’s Paton Estate Agents said he expected the Western Port region to continue to grow, thanks to its beaches and friendly community.

“When I retire from real estate and farming, I and my family will move to Balnarring Beach,” he said.

Mr Paton said demand for the area remained high, with about 90 per cent of purchases Melbourne-based.

The latest REIV figures also show some spectacular rises on the peninsula.

These figures, for the three months to June this year, show the peninsula supplied four of the top 20 growth suburbs for the quarter, including the best performing suburb in Mt Eliza. Property prices there increased by 22 per cent in the March-to-June quarter from a median of $660,000 to $805,000.

Mt Martha was the 14th best performing suburb with a median house price rise of $647,500 to $677,000, up 4.6 per cent, while Rye was 18th on the list, up 3.2 per cent from $445,000 to $459,250 and Mornington was 20th, up 2.8 per cent from $530,000 to $545,000.

The director at Mt Eliza’s TJ Sparks Real Estate, Terry Sparks, said the figures reflected his own experience, and families based in inner city suburbs increasingly saw the peninsula as a better value option.

“I’m not surprised by it at all, we’ve been getting some very good results and I believe it will continue because the value of the peninsula is still exceptionally buying good compared to the inner city living of Melbourne,” he said.

The latest REIV figures maintain a long trend of increased house prices on the Mornington Peninsula.