The city enriches the owners | Sunshine Coast Daily

For months, Australians have been inundated with announcements of an imminent collapse of the real estate market.

But while the median price of homes in Sydney has already fallen by $ 72,041 and that of Melbourne by $ 45,376 in just one year, another modest Australian city has emerged as an amazing winner in the midst of sadness and despair. sadness.

This city is Geelong – a region formerly considered the poor cousin of Melbourne, but now thriving independently.

Jessica and Daniel Lordan, who earned $ 79,000 in just four months, are one of the couples to benefit from the sudden success of Geelong.

The Sydney couple, who already own two investment properties in Sydney and one on the Gold Coast, bought for $ 439,000 in July a three-bedroom, two-bathroom agency in Leopold, in east-end Geelong , through the agency of the buyer Your Property Your Wealth.

Four months later, housing is now valued at $ 518,000.

"We were expecting a bit of growth, but not what we saw, it's certainly more than we expected," Lordan told news.com.au.

"We did a lot of research in different areas and were also thinking about buying in Logan, Queensland, but we opted for Geelong.

"Based on what we have seen so far, I think this is only going to continue, with more long-term growth."

However, the ownership of the Lordans is just one of many projects that have seen incredible growth in Geelong recently.

In fact, according to the CoreLogic data published in the McGrath report of 2019, Geelong is "the country's first regional city in terms of median property price growth", recording a 9.8% increase in the value growth of the country. house during the 12 months preceding April 2018.

At the same time, "it remains more than $ 200,000 cheaper than Melbourne, with a median house price of $ 505,000, against $ 740,000 in Melbourne."

The report also revealed that Geelong workers received an average of $ 616 per week in 2016, $ 84 more than the Melburnians, even though the cost of living in the Victorian capital is higher.

This is a feat all the more remarkable as Geelong lost its two steel mills Ford and Alcoa, located just 70 km southwest of Melbourne. Many thought it would spell the end of the city,

Instead, the federal government supported Geelong's $ 100 million railway duplication project and also pledged an additional $ 100 million for the Advanced Manufacturing Fund for Victoria and the South. Australia, which has allowed the job market to recover.

This is becoming an increasingly attractive option for Melbourne's "escapees," with 6894 people joining the population of Geelong over 278,929 people in the past 12 months, according to the McGrath report.

In addition to the property of the Lordans, the founder of Your Property Your Wealth, Daniel Walsh, said that a number of other Geelong properties purchased for customers had recently posted equally amazing results. worth $ 51,000 in 13 months.

He said that between 2011 and 2016, more than 10,000 new jobs had been created in Geelong in industries other than the manufacturing sector, of which about 1,500 in the education sector alone, and that there were more than 10,000 new jobs in Geelong. he thought that the city 's employment sector would evolve instead of "evaporating" infrastructure projects.

"There is no doubt that the demand for real estate in Geelong is rising sharply, with days on the market in a suburb like Newcomb, for example, dropping from 74 in 2014 to 22 days today. , with price growth of 21.4% over the last 12 months, "he said.

"Local agents even report that properties are selling after the very first open house.

"While first time buyers are considering Geelong because of its affordable properties, so too are investors because of the strength of its economy and growing population."

He added that he expects growth to continue and that Geelong is clearly "ahead of the competition" in terms of property values.

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