Melbourne’s House Price Battle to Stay Ahead of Other Capital Cities

Brisbane’s median house price has leapfrogged our own here in Melbourne, and if the current trend continues, Adelaide will be next.

With house prices in Melbourne slipping behind other cities, it’s giving food for thought to prospective investors who may start looking elsewhere for their next move.

It’s giving rise to fears that our state’s property tax laws are acting as a deterrent for investment from industry players such as Linda Allison from the Urban Development Institute of Australia.

“We have some of the highest property taxes in the country,” she told the Herald Sun.

“It is possible that some parts of the market are looking elsewhere to invest in property because the conditions are just so tough in Victoria.”

Ms Allison identified stamp duty, windfall gains tax, foreign investor surcharges and high interest rates as the driving factors putting a dent in the consumer confidence of those wanting to invest in Victoria.

“There’s actually a crisis of confidence for the consumer as well because with high interest rates and really not a lot of new projects on offer at the moment, it’s difficult for consumers to take that first step,” she said.

“Particularly for mum and dad investors, it is possible that they are looking elsewhere because the tax environment is more favourable.”

Nelson Alexender director Nicholas West also spoke to the Herald Sun and said measures brought in by the government to help after Covid were also affecting investor confidence, but thinks Melbourne will eventually bounce back to forge ahead of most other states.

“We’ve had a lot of measures put in place in Victoria that no other state has had and that’s been impactful; there has been a Covid lag, there’s no doubt about that,” Mr West said.

“There’s no way Melbourne will be on the low end of the median sale price moving forward as an international city with what we offer, no way in the world.

“I think we’ll come into a recovery phase where we’ll see the growth come back again.”