Fringe suburbs in Victoria's Ballarat reflect affordability for FHBs: HTW
Victoria's Ballarat is a rising market for houses but on the decline for units, according to valuation firm Herron Todd White's April 2016 property clock, which also takes a look at its fringe suburbs.
Ballarat continues to see the $200,000 to $400,000 housing market the most commonly traded. This market reflects the affordability for first home buyers and young families. Within this market suburbs that are performing strongly include Ballarat East, Lucas and Delacombe. Ballarat East provides period, older style housing with a central location in comparison to the more modern suburbs of Lucas and Delacombe.
Lucas and Delacombe provide a trade-off of location with modern housing conveniences. These fringe suburbs are unlikely to show marked increases in value in the short term due to excessive supply with increasing numbers of subdivisions coming onto the market.
Fringe suburbs on the eastern side of Ballarat such as Brown Hill provide more opportunity for growth with good demand due to the accessibility to the freeway for Melbourne commuters, however with a higher price point due to this factor.
While these fringe suburbs are unlikely to experience growth in value, they continue to provide a good quality, stable, long-term investment opportunity with good rental returns of around 5%. Demand for rentals within this market remains strong.
Currently, demand for these outer fringe suburbs remains steady with a growing population resulting in expansion of the city boundaries. Lucas and Delacombe both include plans for increased infrastructure such as shopping centres, schools and parks. While planning for these facilities is in place, there remains a lack of transport infrastructure servicing these areas with road access to the CBD becoming increasingly busy with the fringe expansion.
From an investment point of view, both owner-occupiers and investors face a trade-off between inner city, older suburbs with older housing and good potential growth versus the option of low maintenance, modern housing with lower capital growth on the fringes.
Property Observer found a few examples of recently sold properties in Ballarat's fringes on realestate.com.au:
1. A four-bedroom house with car space for two at 5 Earls Square Delacombe Vic 3356 sold for $317,000
2. A three-bedroom house at 19 Sutcliffe Street Lucas Vic 3350 fetched a price of $327,000
