Here’s what’s happened to Melbourne’s million dollar suburbs

We all know the Melbourne property market is having a tough time at present.

It was less than a year ago that I wrote that one in three Melbourne suburbs have a median house price of at least $1 million.

In fact there used to be 143 million dollar Melbourne suburbs, with 90 per cent of suburbs within 10km of the CBD having a million-dollar median house price and almost 50 per cent of suburbs in the middle ring also in the million-dollar club.

But according to the Domain House Price Report for the December 2018 quarter 16 Melbourne suburbs have seen their median house prices drop below the $1 million mark.

But as usual, the markets are very fragmented.

For example the median house price in  the south eastern suburb of Clayton dropped in value by 17.4%.

At the other extreme of the list was the beachside suburb of Edithvale where values only dropped 4.5%.

Melbourne suburbs that fell out of the $1 million club.
Suburb	Median price*	YOY
Clayton	$950,000	-17.40%
Flemington	$881,500	-16.80%
Lower Plenty	$942,750	-16.50%
Collingwood	$950,000	-15.60%
Chadstone	$941,000	-12.90%
Aspendale	$975,000	-11.10%
Oakleigh South	$902,500	-10.00%
Forest Hill	$940,000	-9.20%
Brunswick East	$960,000	-8.70%
Viewbank	$915,000	-8.60%
Cheltenham	$965,000	-8.50%
Lysterfield	$980,000	-6.70%
Mitcham	$950,000	-6.40%
Nunawading	$939,000	-6.20%
Vermont	$968,150	-5.80%
Edithvale	$955,000	-4.50%
Source: Domain House Price Report, December 2018

*Median based on sales in the 12 months to December 2018. Suburbs with fewer than 50 excluded.

Domain economist Trent Wiltshire explained:

“In previous cycles, the top end suburbs led the overall market – when house prices rose there the rest of Melbourne followed,”

“If the pricier suburbs flatten out this year that’s probably a sign the overall market might be close to bottoming out.

“But whether that happens is the million dollar question.”

The market is fragmented

There’s no doubt property values have fallen in some parts of Melbourne and are likely to fall by a little further this year,

But maybe the Melbourne real estate market is not as bad as some parts of the media make out.

According to data released last month Melbourne’s median house price increase 1.4 per cent in 2018

Now before you say the REIV represents real estate agents and is biased, here’s what they say…

REIV property data is the most accurate and up-to-date in Victoria, collated and submitted directly by those working at the coalface… the REIV is uniquely placed to access this raw data which is not subject to interpretation, speculation, assumptions or third-party sources.

The Real Estate Institute of Victoria’s latest data reveals that Melbourne’s median house price increased 1.4 per cent to $826,500 (from $815,000) and the unit price increased 1.8 per cent to $597,000 (from $586,500) in the 2018 calendar year.

NOW READ: Is this what really happened to Melbourne property prices last year?