Victorian property: Affordability and lifestyle, interest rate-survivor suburbs revealed | PropTrack
Country towns have outpaced Melbourne’s suburbs to become Victoria’s ultimate interest rate survival zones as a sizeable core of homebuyers grow “sick of” the city’s hustle and bustle.
And experts have predicted they could be set to outperform again as Australia embraces reduced home loan repayment costs and bigger homebuying budgets.
PropTrack price data released this week shows more than 80 regional areas where home prices jumped at least 10 per cent from the end of February 2022 to the same time in 2025.
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There were fewer than 20 to manage the feat in metropolitan Melbourne, but in the same period 194 Melbourne suburbs lost value.
It coincides with the almost three-year timeline over which the Reserve Bank increased the nation’s interest rates from 0.1 per cent in May 2022, to 4.1 per cent before holding them there until the first rate cut since 2011 in February this year.
The regional winners were also home to the biggest gains with home value surges of anywhere from 42-63 per cent from Eagle Point on the edge of the Gippsland Lakes, to Ouyen and Kerang in the state’s north west, as well as Shepparton North and nearby Kyabram.
176 Bay Rd, Eagle Point, is for sale at $1.1m. The area has gained significant value since 2022.
The home, like many others in the area, has impressive views.
In Melbourne the top performers included Wandin North, Research and North Warrandyte.
PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh said lifestyle and treechange areas were still being “buoyed by the ongoing work from home shift”.
The dominance of regional areas was also no surprise, with Ms Creagh noting many were also quite affordable which would have made them appeal at a time when homebuyers’ borrowing capacity had declined.
The economist said with a number of the best performing regions also reasonably close to major centres such as Shepparton, Ballarat and Geelong, they had likely benefited from demand spilling over from pricier housing markets nearby.
“They have probably continued to attract buyers as rising interest rates and deteriorating borrowing capacity really squeezed most buyers,” she said.
MELBOURNE’S ULTIMATE RATE HIKE SURVIVOR SUBURBS
Wandin North Up 20.4% to $957,500
Bonnie Brook Up 20.2% to $685,000
Deanside Up 18.1% to $620,000
Research Up 16.6% to $1,608,500
Bittern Up 15.2% to $957,500
Longwarry Up 14.7% to $585,000
North Warrandyte Up 14.3% to $1.5m
Rockbank Up 13.4% to $640,500
Mont Albert Up 13.2% to $2.41m
Aintree Up 12.3% to $730,000
Median house price growth from 2022 to 2025. Source: PropTrack
23 Mission Drive, Aintree, has an $850,000-$900,000 asking price above the local median.
VICTORIA’S ULTIMATE RATE HIKE SURVIVOR AREAS
Eagle Point Up 63.3% to $685,000
Nathalia Up 58.5% to $467,500
Ouyen Up 57.9% to $230,500
Kerang Up 44.3% to $352,000
Shepparton North Up 43% to $665,000
Kyabram Up 42.6% to $485,000
Lucknow Up 42.1% to $565,000
Merbein 40.6% to $316,250
Edenhope Up 40.6% to $290,000
Nhill Up 39.5% to $265,000
Median house price growth from 2022 to 2025. Source: PropTrack
With a $175,000-$192,500 asking price, 41 Mitchell St is affordably priced even by Ouyen’s standards.
In Melbourne, many of the areas high on the list would be considered affluent or prestige regions, such as Mont Albert and Park Orchards, meaning their buyers were less concerned with interest rate movements to start with.
Others had likely benefited for the same reason as regional areas that boomed when the rest of Melbourne succumbed to doom and gloom.
“More affordable areas have outperformed across the capital cities … and lifestyle areas have also done well in those other capitals,” Ms Creagh said.
“And my sense would be that the easing cycle will be relatively shallow and home price uplift will be fairly modest. But probably these resilient suburbs could outperform again as borrowing power continues to improve.”
Listed for sale at $590,000-$630,000, affordably priced homes like 107 Vere Court, Deanside, could be set for more growth this year.
In some of Victoria’s best value for money towns like Nhill, homes are still being listed for sale with prices at $289,000 including 82 Victoria St.
Real Estate Buyers Agents Association of Australia Victorian representative Matthew Scaffidi said he had been watching the Warrandyte and Park Orchard region for years, and for the past three had found them very competitive.
Mr Scaffidi said that in many instances these areas, as well as regional towns, were offering homebuyers an escape from the hustle and bustle of city life which some people were now just “sick of.”
“People have gotten a much clearer picture of what’s important in their life, so many are thinking ‘why are we doing the eat, sleep, work and repeat’ and they are looking for something that’s a more peaceful life,” he said.
Mr Scaffidi added that another key factor for the success of the more lifestyle-friendly regions was that they had never been auction-led markets, meaning most agents operating their long term were experienced negotiators.
“And buyers in these areas will have a lot of emotion in it,” he said.
Even with a $1.85m-$2m asking price, homes like 45 Osborne Rd, North Warrandyte, have been in high demand thanks to their lifestyle appeal.
26 Salisbury Ave, Mont Albert, is listed with a $2.6m-$2.8m asking price in one of the few Melbourne suburbs to gain value in the past three years.
The Abode Advocacy buyer’s agent said the same sentiment-driven sales happened in many of the new housing estate areas that bucked the trend in the past three years, with first-home buyers and people who have been pushed out of everywhere else just trying to get what they could afford.
Real Estate Institute of Victoria president Jacob Caine said the size of blocks in many of the more lifestyle-friendly regions could also have had additional appeal as they could suit further development — or larger houses, with newer builds likely to push up prices.
“So, as the amenity in Melbourne’s traditionally outer suburbs improves, so too does the desirability of living in these areas,” Mr Caine said.
Meanwhile, in the more affordable new housing estate areas that ranked highly on the list such as Deanside and Bonnie Brooke, he noted typically affordable prices and larger floorplans as well as modern features would all be a factor.
Wandin North has been Melbourne’s most successful suburb in the past three years. Homes like 71 Beenak Rd are now listed for sale at $1.6m-$1.7m.
But the agent added that the success of coastal and riverine areas such as Eagle Point on the Gippsland Lakes would also have been buoyed by retirement aged Victorians who were buying cash and didn’t need a home loan.
“Whilst the majority of Australians were hurt by interest rate rises, Baby Boomers have generally benefited from higher interest rates and have sought to purchase on waterways in Victoria,” Mr Caine said.
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