MEDIAN house prices in Thomastown have dropped dramatically since March 2011, the latest figures show.
The Real Estate Institute of Victoria statistics show the median price for a house in Thomastown dropped 17.2 per cent, from $445,000 a year ago to $368,750 last month. The figures also show that less than 30 houses were sold in Thomastown in the first quarter of this year.
LJ Hooker South Morang principal Bill Collias said a sense of panic had set in with prospective Thomastown buyers. “We’ve got a very large ethnic European community in Thomastown, and given what has happened in Europe they could be giving advice to their children not to buy. They could be afraid to buy because they don’t understand the market and they’re reluctant to make a commitment,” Mr Collias said.
He also said job uncertainty among blue-collar workers and interest rates of more than 4 per cent were effecting sales.
Epping’s median house price dropped 7.9 per cent to $368,500.
Median house prices in other northern suburbs have remained relatively stable, with Doreen properties rising 2.1 per cent to $480,000 and Mill Park down by less than 1 per cent to $408,000.
Mill Park real estate director Mills Ristic, of Ristic Real Estate, said Melbourne’s northern suburbs still had potential to grow despite a decline in sales. “Once interest rates are relaxed I think the first home buyers will be back and they will invest,” Mr Ristic said.
“In the Mill Park area we have lots of room to grow and that makes us more valuable.”
REIV spokesman Robert Larocca said: “Doreen stands out, but due to being a more recent suburb it is subject to different demand conditions. For buyers who felt priced out of the market a year and a half ago these represent good opportunities.”
The median house price in metropolitan Melbourne was $535,000 in the last quarter, with only a 0.9 per cent rise since January.
