Melbourne’s unlikely millionaire’s rows: Frankston, Melton, Werribee, Craigieburn have rich pockets that locals don’t even know about
Suburbs around the city are home to some millionaire pockets where homes can be worth more than $3m.
From Frankston to Melton, some of Melbourne’s cheapest suburbs are home to millionaire’s rows where houses routinely snag multimillion-dollar prices.
But with most out of the way of day-to-day life, they’re often “hidden gems” that even locals don’t know about.
Homes routinely top $3m along the rarefied streets of Long Island in Frankston, a pocket of the suburb between Kananook Creek and the beach – with a number of the homes offering direct access to the sand.
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But step off the island and home prices quickly drop back to the suburb’s $730,000 median price.
Bell Property’s Garry Donovan said people selling in the pricey pocket tended to highlight the Long Island address, and tried to avoid the word “Frankston”.
“There’s a little bit of a stigma on that word, but Long Island fits more into the Mt Martha groove,” Mr Donovan said.
“Early $3ms is the starting point.”
1B Palm Court, Frankston sold for $3.1m last year.
The agent added that with a waterfront home at 1 Mary St, Frankston, today with a $2.91m-$3.2m, most of the prospective buyers were coming from places like Brighton and Elsternwick.
He added that the high-priced pocket was one of the last places a home could be bought where you can walk straight onto the sand before you hit Portsea.
PropTrack economist Paul Ryan said when an area could offer bigger blocks, a quiet address and unique aspects such as being on a waterfront or having city views, they would often be worth more than others in the suburb.
“But there’s also cachet, they become status symbols and locals will know what it means to be in that spot,” Mr Ryan.
However, with most being out of the way, in many instances he said they were “hidden gems” that even locals might not know exist.
In Melton, the city’s most affordable suburb where the typical home costs just $470,000, if you stray into the Killarney Estate you can pay five times that amount as home prices surge past $2m.
40 Killarney Drive, Melton sold in April for $2.04m
Reliance Real Estate Melton’s Karan Arya said after selling a number of properties in the pricey pocket, it was a mix of super-sized blocks starting at 2000sq m, but most at 4000sq m, and a lifestyle focus that compelled buyers from higher-priced suburbs in Melbourne’s south east and north to spend big on a home in Melton.
“Melton is looked down upon, but it is a good location in terms of proximity to the city and the area is quite developed and well established,” Mr Arya said.
His firm is currently selling 6 Connemarra Circuit with a $2.3m-$2.5m asking price, and recently locked in a sale for 40 Killarney Drive at $2.04m.
In Hoppers Crossing, One Agency Property Partners director Sahil Saran said along Bindowan Drive, Sayers Rd and Kingston Boulevard it was more common to see seven-figure prices than not, with some topping $2m.
A few weeks ago he sold a block of land on Bindowan Drive for $1.55m, and has another at 103 Bindowan Drive for sale at $1.999m-$2.15m.
59 Charteris Drive, Craigieburn is for sale with a $1.75m-$1.9m price guide. The suburb’s median house price is $640,000.
“A lot of the buyers are local, but we have been seeing that with a lot of migrants, particularly from India, they come here work hard and get a first home nearby, then they are looking for a forever home,” Mr Saran said.
“But 90 per cent of people would not know that there are multimillion-dollar homes in Hoppers Crossing. When I tell people there’s a $2m house in Hoppers Crossing, they just look at me in shock.”
To Melbourne’s north, SKAD Real Estate’s Harminder Singh said high-end homes on larger blocks lined Charteris Drive, Highlander Drive and Atley St.
But it was the city views on offer from Charteris Drive that had most buyers willing to part ways with more than $2m in a suburb where the median house price is just $640,000.
103 Bindowan Drive, Hoppers Crossing is for sale for $1.999m-$2.15m.
“Out buyers are often moving from interstate, or they’re from the area looking to upgrade,” Mr Singh said.
Hockingstuart Werribee director Justin Tong said there were two affluent pockets in Werribee with generational homes that rarely changed hands, particularly those facing the Werribee River.
“It’s a really family-orientated pocket; you’re buying them with young children and not selling them until you’re empty nesters,” Mr Tong said.
He’s currently selling a home at 8 Watkins Grove that set a $1.215m record for the suburb in 2016 and is back up today with a $1.45m-$1.595m asking price.
Mr Tong said it was a pretty special home which the sellers had renovated, adding a massive pergola and outdoor kitchen to the rear.
Wattle Ave is also one of the top addresses in the suburb, with a four-bedroom house at No. 93 snaring $1.305m in 2022.
Mr Tong said both these streets were Werribee’s most exclusive streets and attracted mainly local, wealthy families with kids who went to school in the area.
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