We saw another example of it this weekend, in an article by Samantha Landy on page 31 of Saturday’s Herald-Sun. This story, (headed: “Our house prices soar” if you want to take a look), looked at the latest figures from the REIV on the rate of growth in property values in Melbourne last year. These figures showed that in 2017, the Melbourne property market enjoyed its strongest annual price growth in seven years. In fact, Melbourne’s median house price increased by 13.2 percent last year, the biggest annual increase since 2010.

What was of more importance for the local property market, however, was that Sunshine West recorded a growth in median price that was among the strongest in the entire state. With an increase of a remarkable 29.9%, Sunshine West had the equal second highest growth rate of any Melbourne suburb. Even if you own a property in an adjoining area, this is certainly good news as growth like this tends to have a ‘spill-over effect’ over time.

Figures like these come hot on the heels of the latest housing finance statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics which confirmed that the first home buyer market has also been steadily increasing in strength. The President of the REIA, Malcolm Gunning, announced this week that “The proportion of first home buyers, as part of the total owner-occupied housing finance commitments, increased to 18.0 per cent in November 2017, the highest proportion since October 2012.”

The monthly total of home loans to first-home buyers was 11,091. This was the highest number since December 2009, which was when the government started scaling back incentives for first-home-buyers as part of the response to the Global Financial Crisis.

So, if you’ve been spending the first few weeks of the New Year making plans for 2018, and you’d like an update on how much more your property could be worth after all this recent growth in values, feel free to give us a call at Barry Plant Sunshine on 03 8326 8888.