Michaela Meade
Land sales in the Whittlesea and Hume areas have helped fuel a record number of lots purchased across Melbourne and surrounds.
RPM Real Estate Group’s first quarter Residential Market Review for 2021 shows robust demand for residential land in growth areas off the back of a surge in consumer confidence, low interest rates and job growth.
Whittlesea recorded 821 lot sales in the quarter, 11 per cent of the total 7465 sales.
Hume recorded 373 sales – five per cent of the total.
The western growth corridor areas of Melton, Wyndham, and Bacchus Marsh continued to lead lot sales, recording 3051 in the quarter – more than 40 per cent of the city’s sales and a 20 per cent increase on the previous quarter.
According to the RMR report, the March quarter had a “significant shift” in sales activity.
“Hume has accounted for the most sales in previous years, however, recorded the fewest sales in the first three months of 2021,” the report stated.
“A growing number of active estates in Sunbury and Macedon and Mitchell … is fuelling demand for these growth areas.
“However, in Hume there are numerous estates either nearing completion or are smaller and boutique in characteristic, which is restraining new lot supply and further limiting lot sale volumes.”
According to the report, Hume experienced the largest quarterly decline in gross sales in the northern corridor, decreasing 39 per cent.
Escalating demand in Whittlesea, Sunbury and Macedon, and Mitchell, is supporting the price growth in these areas.
RPM director Luke Kelly said the March quarter drove 7465 lot sales across Melbourne and surrounding regions, five per cent above the previous record peak in the 2017 September quarter, including a new record of 2944 in March alone.
“A record quarter is a fantastic result for the Victorian property market, just 12 months on from the devastating first impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the shutdown of real estate across the nation,” Mr Kelly said.
According to the report, the northern growth corridor had the highest proportion of purchasers who were couples with children (56 per cent) and the lowest share of first home buyers (47 per cent).
