The seaside breeze blew in great returns to Portsea property owners in 2015, with the affluent suburb recording Victoria’s highest annual price growth ─ a mammoth 47.5 percent*.
Portsea has historically stood as one of Victoria’s most picturesque and desirable suburbs, attracting famous residents including television personality Eddie McGuire and businessman Lindsay Fox.
A refreshment at the famous Portsea Hotel or a brisk stroll along the Millionaire’s Walk, the small coastal track that runs between Portsea and Sorrento, quickly reveals why this pocket of the world, with its priceless views of Port Phillip Bay, attracts the wealthiest and most famous amongst us. What is not so obvious, however, is what has transpired over the last 12 months to see this suburb, with a population of only 500 residents, achieve the highest annual property growth across the state?
We to put this question to our Portsea Director, Warwick Anderson. Warwick was born with Victorian coastal real estate knowledge in his blood. He follows in the footsteps of his father who was also an RT Edgar Director, working with the company from the 1940s.
“Portsea’s unprecedented growth over the last 12 months can largely be attributed to the fact that unlike other parts of Melbourne, Portsea has had very little price growth since the global financial crisis in 2008. Thus, we have seen a catch up of sorts, for the last 7 to 8 years. The price cycles of Portsea tend to illustrate that prices don’t seem to drop, whereas turnover does. This occurs until buyers and sellers regain confidence and prices increase once again. We noticed this factor came into effect around the middle of 2015.”
Mr Anderson further notes that “it must also be remembered that, Portsea’s small geographical footprint, with relatively few houses, can give industry figures a distinct view. That said, however, there is significant planned infrastructure and amenity investment in the area, which will help to maintain and sustain solid growth results throughout this year and beyond.”
We will be watching closely to see which suburb is likely to take out the highest growth accolade for 2016 and if the cause-and-effect of this growth mirrors the price-cycle trends of Portsea.
*Source: Corelogic Ap Data
