Albury Wodonga, Latrobe Valley: Victoria’s top cheapies with prospects
11 Canberra Street, Moe, could be yours for just $215,000.
Victorian buyers hoping to land the ultimate investment — a cheap home that will make you money in the long run — should have the Latrobe Valley and Albury-Wodonga regions on their radar.
This is the verdict of Hotspotting’s latest report, which identifies the nation’s top five regional “cheapies with prospects”.
Queensland’s Toowoomba and Rockhampton, and New South Wales’ Hunter Region round out the list chosen by veteran real estate researcher Terry Ryder, who says the markets offer buyers a chance to “get ahead of the boom”.
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In the report, Mr Ryder said Victoria-NSW border city Albury-Wodonga and Gippsland region the Latrobe Valley were among the many Aussie markets to have benefited from the “exodus to affordable lifestyle” trend amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Albury-Wodonga property market continues to forge a path of increasing sales and rising prices as its population swells, luring new residents away from the big, expensive and congested cities,” he said.
“(And) buyer demand in the Latrobe Valley has grown as more and more homebuyers abandon the higher prices of the Melbourne metropolitan area for affordable homes in regional Victoria.
“The appeal is enhanced by a country lifestyle for homebuyers, and strong rental yields and very low vacancies for investors.”
This charmer at 19 Willow Parade, Wodonga, is on the market for $520,000-$570,000.
Postcodes in both regions had notched double-digit house price gains in the past year, but remained affordable, according to the report.
In Albury-Wodonga, prices soared 20 per cent to $285,000 in Springvale Heights — the site of several house-and-land estates — and 19 per cent to $405,000 in West Albury.
Its cheapest suburbs were North Albury ($240,000), Springvale Heights and Lavington ($290,000), while Wodonga, West Wodonga and Thurgoona also had median house prices below $400,000.
Moe (up 18 per cent to $235,000) and Churchill (up 16 per cent to $215,000) were the Latrobe Valley’s annual growth stars as well as the region’s cheapest towns, alongside Morwell at $180,000.
Vacancy rates are ridiculously low in Baranduda, making 3 Mccubbins Lane a decent investment option. It has a $429,000 asking price.
Mr Ryder noted investors should be encouraged by the fact the markets offered some of the nation’s lowest rental vacancy rates — bottoming out in Albury-Wodonga at 0.2 per cent in Baranduda and 0.4 per cent in Wodonga, Lavington and Springvale Heights, and in the Latrobe Valley, at 0.4 per cent in Traralgon and 0.5 per cent in Moe.
He said these figures had dramatically improved in the Latrobe Valley since regularly rising above 4 per cent between 2015 and 2017, when the region was struggling through a “phase of change, brought on initially by a serious fire at Hazelwood Power Station in 2014”.
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Mr Ryder said its economy had bounced back from the power station’s closure and subsequent loss of 900 jobs in 2019 to successfully generate employment in health services, aged care and food production — “all sectors that have strongly resisted the impacts of the COVID-19 period”.
This classic Aussie home at 10 Watt Street, Morwell, is seeking a buyer for $265,000.
Albury-Wodonga’s “diverse economy” dominated by manufacturing, construction and the public administration and safety sectors, as well as its improving infrastructure and strategic border location, held it in good stead for future property prosperity.
Wodonga Real Estate director Mark Rosevear recently labelled the region’s economy “recession-proof”, being buoyed by employment opportunities in tourism, government and retail.
“We’re a more affordable destination than traditional regional centres, like Geelong and Ballarat, because we’re just a little further away up the Hume Highway,” Mr Rosevear said
“It’s an extremely hot market at the moment, with land sales going through the roof due to the federal government’s HomeBuilder grant.”
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