Mill Park named as a housing hotspot

 

Mill Park has been named as one of Melbourne’s more affordable housing locales.

A PRDnationwide report analysing residential sales across the greater Melbourne region identified Mill Park as having both affordable houses and high growth potential in the second half of last year.

The Melbourne Hotspots report said suburbs outside the inner Melbourne ring remained popular with both owner-occupiers and investors, offering an affordable entry point into the hot Melbourne property market.

Fawkner and Deer Park also made the list.

PRDnationwide managing director Tony Brasier said these outer-lying areas continue to gain momentum as private and state funded projects improve connectivity and fuel economic growth, attracting buyers.

“The north and north-western suburbs, in particular, are benefitting strongly from this influx of funding, new facilities and economic impetus, as their annual property growth continues to climb,” he said.

“The amount of development activity taking place in these suburbs and surrounding areas is very encouraging.

“New roads and infrastructure, shopping centre and commercial precincts are reliable indicators of future price growth,” Mr Brasier said. “There are some great opportunities available in these areas for investors and astute buyers looking for growth potential with solid, underlying property dynamics.”

“Hotspots” are determined using factors including median house price growth, online interest, volume of sales, median rental price, vacancy rates and rental yields.

The median house price in Mill Park rose 12 per cent, from $484,000 in 2015 to $542,250 in 2016. But local real estate agents, including Harcourts Mill Park-South Morang director Daniel Taylor told Star Weekly it is not uncommon for properties in the suburb to sell for $900,000.

Mr Brasier said Mill Park is popular with buyers because it is a “promising” suburb, close to higher education, shops and well serviced by public transport.