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Sandy Kincaid has lived in Melbourne’s leafy north-eastern hub of Heidelberg for the past 27 years.
It’s a suburb where her two sons, now 28 and 31, grew up playing football across the road from home and where she met longtime friends through the local school communities.
So it’s no surprise that Kincaid plans to downsize in Heidelberg, after selling her four-bedroom family home in Beverley Road.
“I’m an empty-nester now and my home is too big for just me … I do want to stay here because the medical precinct is close by, and now that I’m ageing, it’s really important,” she said.
Kincaid has become part of a growing generational change in Heidelberg that is helping bolster the local housing market as sellers downsize and families buy in – even as house prices fall across Melbourne.
Heidelberg’s median house price rose 21.7 per cent over the year to March to a peak $1.4 million, the second-highest rise in Melbourne, Domain data shows. It was topped only by the tiny town of Bunyip, which is past Pakenham and the last dot on the map before Greater Melbourne ends and regional Victoria begins.
The gains in Heidelberg, home to the Austin Hospital and Mercy Hospital for Women, are in contrast to house prices across Melbourne, which fell 0.6 per cent to a median $1.08 million in the same time period.
Domain chief residential economist Dr Nicola Powell said Heidelberg’s house prices had steadily risen over the past five years, including a near-17 per cent uplift since 2021.
“It’s not a bubble suburb [where values are overinflated and then burst],” Powell said. “Heidelberg really is the long-term family home heartland, and it has relative affordability compared to other suburbs in the inner north, like Northcote, which had a $1.65 million median.
“That makes it a highly desirable area.”
Lately, property prices have fallen further across Melbourne, in response to rising interest rates, petrol prices and cost-of-living pressures and investor tax changes in the budget.
But Nelson Alexander Ivanhoe’s Nunzio Sulfaro, who is Kincaid’s selling agent, said vendors were still wanting to downsize despite the slower market conditions.
“With the family market, yes there are local and global pressures and events, but life goes on and people will still make a move,” Sulfaro said. “That’s why nice family homes are still selling.”
House prices had changed since March, he said, and properties once garnering a $1.7 million price tag were now selling for $1.6 million.
Those needing significant renovations were also being discounted, some by $200,000, as buyers negotiated the price to have extra money for repairs, Sulfaro said.
“I think a lot of vendors have accepted the reality that they’re not going to get the same prices as you could six months ago … no one’s coming to the market thinking it’s the best market of all time,” he said.
Miles Real Estate Ivanhoe auctioneer Elisse Farquhar said some downsizers were looking to buy closer to the city, but there were just as many waiting to find a smaller place locally to stay in the suburb they know.
“Heidelberg ticks a lot of boxes for buyers – it’s got the train line, hospitals, Burgundy Street shops, it’s close to the freeway (North East Link) … and of course, the closer you are to the city, the more desirable the area becomes,” Farquhar said.
She agreed the market was still moving despite the slowdown, with the top end of the Heidelberg market, or homes above $4 million, selling to families with money to spend.
At the lower end, houses up to $1.5 million often had downsizers, first home buyers and families competing to buy, especially if they were newly renovated or did not need any fixing up.
Richard and Brigid Keele, both 67, sold their family home in Heidelberg a few years ago and bought a smaller one in Hawdon Street Heidelberg. They, in turn, sold that on June 15.
The couple is now searching for something slightly bigger, though still small enough to be easy to maintain, in the local area.
“We’re looking for something with an extra bedroom that’s good for interstate visitors and grandchildren coming to stay,” Richard Keele said. “It is a tightly held area, and there’s not a lot available coming up.
“Having a freestanding home with a garden is very important to us – having a little bit of space.”
The couple raised their two children in Heidelberg, and love its proximity to the city, and most importantly the train line close to the MCG, where Keele can watch his beloved Collingwood play.
“Our children loved living and growing up here,” Keele said. “It feels like home to us.”
