A property market rollercoaster driven by “fear and excitement” is favouring sellers in Melbourne’s inner southeast suburbs.

“We are finding the balance has shifted to buyers, whereas at the start of the pandemic it was the opposite,” Barry Plant Keysborough, Dandenong and Noble Park director, Cameron Davison, said.

A larger portion of investors has also returned to the market, with a big increase in project sales and buying off-the-plan.

“People have been saving for holidays or other things but when they realised they couldn’t do any of that, they’ve started investing in cars or property,” Mr Davison said.

Keysborough’s median unit price has increased 19.94 per cent to $652,500 in 12 months to December 2020, according to CoreLogic data.

The median house price has seen a 3.63 per cent increase to $770,000 over the same period.

“A big change in our area is people are happy to pay over $1 million for property,” Mr Davison said.

There has been a flood of enquiries per property, with mostly local buyers looking to upgrade, according to Mr Davison.

“Ten groups of tenants gave notice within a few days recently because they had purchased property,” he said.

A home at 12 Somerset Dr, Dandenong North recently sold for $913,000, well over the vendor’s reserve price, with seven bidders vying for the keys.

Similarly, seven bidders competed for 18 Camellia Ave, Noble Park North, which sold for tens of thousands over the reserve price.

“Interest rates are good, while incentives are spectacular for construction and first home-owners,” he said.

“These factors combined have initiated a lot of market activity.”

According to recent data by the Housing Industry Association, Australia is set to build more houses in 2021 than ever before, with Victoria leading the nation.

“There have been a lot of people renovating during the lockdown and we are finding they are mostly market ready now,” Mr Davison said.