1 hour ago
3
Ros Hill’s suburb is in Melbourne, but living there feels like living in the country.
There’s a national park nearby, and she has enough room for animals at home. Neighbours drop in and help. Yet, it’s still close to anything you need.
Hill lives in Belgrave South, and it seems she’s not the only one who loves it there. The outer-east pocket ranks among Melbourne’s top three most tightly held suburbs. Home owners hold on to their properties for a median 26.9 years before they sell.
Belgrave South is only outranked by Clarinda, in the south-east, at 30.7 years, and Kilsyth South, also in the outer east, at 27.1 years, in figures from property research house Cotality over the 12 months to June.
Greater Melbourne’s overall median hold period is 10 years. In a handful of largely middle to outer suburban family-friendly neighbourhoods, owners stay for 20 years or more.
Hill’s home of 39 years is a two-hectare block chosen because it had enough space for her husband’s earthmoving equipment. The 73-year-old retiree’s children are no longer at home. She is now ready to give up that much space and sell, hoping it will suit another family buyer.
The large block wasn’t only useful for trucks. Her husband and daughter rode horses there and her son rode motorbikes. Hill has appreciated living in a suburb with a national park nearby and plenty of room for its residents.
“I love it,” she said. “I love the smell of it, I love the openness, the neighbours … it’s close to everything. It’s still metropolitan but at the same time it’s country.”
Hill likes knowing her neighbours and the community feel of her area.
“People help each other and people look out for each other,” she said, recalling someone calling in with buns, and another mowing the lawn.
Cotality head of research Gerard Burg said many of Melbourne’s tightly held suburbs were in the east. Most of them are priced higher than the median Melbourne house, although there are few at top-tier premium price points and few in the inner suburbs.
“If you’re in a location and the hold period is lasting that long and there’s barely any sales, it really points to somewhere that offers people a lifestyle they want to stick around for,” he said.
“If you’re going to be holding for those sorts of extended periods of time, you’re probably purchasing at a reasonably young age with a view to a family situation.”
Some buyers, he added, might have chosen a suburb for its local school or other amenities and then sent their children to that school throughout their education, which can result in longer hold times.
He thought it would be harder for first home buyers now to own a home for as long as in the tightly held suburbs because it takes longer to save a deposit than in the past, which means some first-time buyers are older.
In Clarinda, for example, the typical owner bought their home in 1995, based on the hold periods data. “It was definitely a different world around 1995 in terms of things like the household income-to-value ratio was much lower,” he said.
Long-tenured owners tend to have a better chance of capital growth. But any area they might consider relocating to had probably had capital growth as well, meaning the cost of relocating – plus stamp duty – could discourage downsizing, he said.
Hill’s agent, Oberoi Homes director/owner Akshay Chawla, said Belgrave South was a popular location for buyers, especially families and upsizers.
“Because of the scenery, because of the views, and it is up in the mountains,” he said. He also thought the local schools and the Puffing Billy Railway were drawcards.
He said the market was slower now, but more so in other areas. Belgrave South’s median house value is $1.08 million on Cotality data.
“We have had a lot of buyers through the property [offered by Hill] since we have been running the campaign,” he said. “Other areas are definitely quieter than Belgrave South.”
Elsewhere, Clarinda took the crown of Melbourne’s most tightly held suburb. Buxton Oakleigh senior sales consultant Dario Casale has lived in Clarinda all his life and recently sold a home there. Because the volume of sales in the area is small, it’s not a suburb where he sells many properties.
“It is a fantastic community,” he said. “It has always been young families … but people grow up, and move out.”
He thought the suburb offered buyers good value, compared with nearby Clayton and Oakleigh. Clarinda’s median house value is $1.01 million, and he said many blocks were about 600 or 700 square metres.
“You still get a yard and the family dream … you get a lot more bang for your buck.”
