Harper Sercombe
Local real estate agents say the latest house pricing data is not a true indicator of market trends.
Figures released by the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) on July 17 indicate a stark rise in housing prices within the suburb of Whittlesea.
The data shows that the median house price jumped from $700,000 in the March quarter to $822,500 in the June quarter, (a 17.5 per cent increase), however real estate agent Glenn Halliday, from Exchanged Real Estate, said it is not a true reflection of the market.
“It depends on the style of property being sold and the type of property being sold, I wouldn’t have seen a 17 per cent increase on the ground though,” he said.
“The data might be a bit skewed.
“I don’t know where they’re getting their data from.
“Our [data] portal is actually saying to us that in 2023 we’ve seen an 8.5 per cent decrease in price.”
These thoughts were echoed by real estate agent Luke Alboli from YPA.
REIV data showed that the median house price in Westmeadows dropped from $739,000 to $660,000 across the quarter, (a 10.7 per cent decrease).
However, Mr Albioli said this was not a true depiction of how the market has been moving from what he has seen.
“The volume of transactions hasn’t been that high in Westmeadows, for July there’s only been two sales across the whole suburb and then in June there were four,” he said.
“It’s not enough data to say ‘hey there’s been a 10 per cent drop’.
“Let’s say if there were 20 homes selling per month there’s probably more data to use.”
Rather Mr Albioli said prices have held reasonably strong.
“[It] feels as though the market in general has had a correction,” he said.
“Some areas may have felt it a lot more severely than others.
“If we’re looking at Westmeadows in particular, I don’t think it’s been a severe adjustment.”
A REIV spokesperson said “in Whittlesea and Westmeadows the minimum reported sales threshold of seven was well and truly met, and both suburbs included sales above the $1 million mark.”
Both suburbs recorded a decrease in housing prices for the last financial year with 2 per cent for Whittlesea and 4.5 per cent for Westmeadows from more than 50 reported sales each.
