By NATALIE GALLENTI
MEDIAN house prices across the City of Melton continue to enjoy a steady increase in some areas, while falling in others.
September quarter figures from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria revealed house and unit prices decreased slightly in Melton West and Melton, while vendors across Caroline Springs only enjoyed a small increase of 1.7 per cent.
The biggest crash was in Taylors Hill, where prices tumbled by 15.2 per cent from $480,000 in September 2012 to $441,500 in September this year.
However, the neighbouring suburb of Burnside Heights recorded a massive 15.4 per cent increase, from $410,000 last September to $473,000 in the latest quarter.
Median house prices in Brookfield increased by 2.9 per cent.
The nearby suburbs of Sunshine and Sunbury both enjoyed increases, while Werribee is still well below last year’s prices.
In Melbourne’s West, Footscray was one of the best performing suburbs with an annual increase of 10.7 per cent.
REIV CEO Enzo Raimondo said that this quarter’s higher-than- expected growth showed a very clear increase in demand but warned that this level of growth might not be sustained over the long term.
“Interest rates remain low and buyers are taking advantage of this with the chances of a further rate cut this year becoming less and less likely,” Mr Raimondo said.
“But judging from the rather rapid increase in house prices, affordability pressures could start to act as a counter balance to demand in the next few months, particularly for first home buyers.”
