A middle-ring location, spacious blocks and affordable prices have sent sales soaring in Noble Park North.

Sales growth rose more than 100 per cent in the southeastern suburb and also in eastern areas such as Chadstone, Knoxfield and Blackburn South in 2021, according to the latest PropTrack data from realestate.com.au.

House sales in Melbourne’s inner, middle and outer ring suburbs grew as much as 129 per cent last year, with Noble Park North-leading with the biggest year-on-year growth of 112 transactions compared to 49 in the previous 12 months.

Chadstone recorded a rise from 43 to 87 sales, Knoxfield jumped from 60 to 121, and Blackburn South saw sales spiked to 159 from 79.

Many of the growth suburbs are considered affordable areas compared to more expensive neighbouring areas.

“Younger families upsizing and downsizers who listed their homes in Noble Park North led to more sales in 2021,” Barry Plant Noble Park director Tim Stickley said.

“And buyers have come from many places attracted to the middle-ring location and its proximity to the city.”

With a median price of $752,000 as of February 1, Noble Park North is considerably more affordable than nearby areas such as Mulgrave with a $1 million median price and Rowville’s $1.106 million median.

The Barry Plant agency has a large share of listings and sales in the suburb and notched two standout results in late 2021, including 21 Kingswood Crescent. The stunning renovated property attracted keen buyer interest and sold for a new record house price of $1,225,500.

And a large development block of nearly 3000sq m owned by Scouts Victoria at 61-63 Heyington Crescent was sold by Mr Stickley for a new benchmark price of $2.45 million.

Knoxfield, a similar small suburb, saw many homeowners list their properties for sale in 2021 because of strong market conditions and high prices, Barry Plant Wantirna partner Ricko Su said.

“In 2020, sellers held back during the pandemic but in 2021 they saw the market was not affected and so they put their property on the market,” he said.

“There is a huge demand for the suburb’s large blocks which can be developed into townhouses priced at $800,000-$900,000 each.”

Mr Su expected the tightly held suburb to perform well in 2022 due to limited listings and demand from families and developers.

Another top-performer, Chadstone, saw sales rise because sellers took advantage of strong prices and demand, Barry Plant Glen Waverley auctioneer Carolyn Barton said.

The suburb covers just 3.1sq km and is tightly held but buyer demand saw the median house price jump 25 per cent from $990,000 in 2020 to $1.24 million last year.

Among the suburb’s top sales was one by Ms Barton at 5 Amaroo Street, a decades-old Housing Commission house bought for $43,500 by the owners in the 1980s.

It fetched a suburb record of $1.45 million under the hammer, selling $300,000 beyond the $1.15 million seller’s reserve.