VIC Geelong 2021

Looking back...My $270k purchase for a nice house in Corio is looking like a great investment so far

 

With the inner areas getting a big boost the differential between 3214's prices and the rest of Geelong start to make the former look reasonable value again as well. That Port Rd price floored me, going back about 4 years now i think, when David Shih was looking around Newcomb, an already subdivided old house on Port Rd on the half-size block i think was for sale in the low-mid 200's at that stage. The days of getting a house with a 2 in front of it are well and truly over.

As i've often said, generally in any area of Geelong the amenities are not too far out of reach especially if you drive, and paying $300K or so more for a place that's closer to a nice coffee shop meals a lot of coffees!

 

Thanks for your insights! Looks like it's a reasonable option, have requested a section 32. Not taking offers prior to auction though so we will see how it goes.

 

Found time to go past this today
From the veranda/front room level you would likely have bay veiws and can easily see the YouYang's.
Massive street frontage also.
It won't be a cheap buy unfortunately, so not an investor buy unless you were going to build unit's. Would make a great long term PPOR though
Found myself liking the deco place on the opposite corner

 

The Gibbs Street property went for 627k at auction to a couple of first home buyers. As an investment the numbers didn't really work for us, but for a home it would be a fantastic location.

 

This went for $700k today. Have not been following Herne Hill but it seems a wild price.

33 Bakewell Street, Herne Hill, Vic 3218
https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-herne+hill-135744814

 

In Saturday's Geelong Addy, they have a run-down of sold prices the previous week. Excitingly for me and my 3214 home, of the dozen properties sold in Norlane/Corio, only one, at $360K was under $400K. That's quite amazing really. But there's still a fair few that can be got under that $400K mark at the moment.

 

You seem to have a great understanding of what’s going on in Geelong at the moment, do you think there has been much movement pricewise in the cheaper suburbs (corio/Norlane/Whittington) in the last 3-6months?

I have a property in Whittington so I keep half an eye on it but I’m not sure if the price of it has moved in the last 6 months at all. Which would be a bit surprising seeing as most markets have moved, that being said it had had great growth over the last couple of years since I bought it.

 

Whittington is the black sheep of the 3219 postcode area, which is amazingly diverse as it ranges from million dollar plus properties in the inner areas and the large blocks in Humble St, Meakin St etc. Then you have Breakwater near the showgrounds and racecourse, and the commission housing areas of Whittington which are around the space-themed streets around Solar Drive.

Those areas will always trail on price, but they are still very handily located near both Newcomb Central and Bellarine Village, and they are only 4-5 K's from the Geelong CBD. It will be a rising tode lifts all boats situation, as in the above example when older weatherboard places like that Gibbs St one is selling for $627K, the $400K houses just a kilometre away start to look good value.

Back in 2017 when i was showing various members around Geelong, $600K was the prices you'd pay to buy in Myers St or say the area around Anderson St, the inner areas of East. Those prices have migrated to Newcomb now, so i'd be confident that if Newcomb starts staying around the 600K mark, Whittington will also move. Generally when the gap between standard areas of Geelong and the Norlanes', Corios' and Whittingtons' starts to get silly, the latter will catch up nicely, After all, most Geelong suburbs are at most 15 minutes from the CBD, Waterfront, Pako etc.

 

Just started looking in Geelong, and still refining our search area. Needing to be in north Melbourne 2 days a week, trying to stick to within 15min walk of west Geelong through to North Geelong stations. Still not sure about the northern suburbs like Corio and Norlane although Lara is very tempting.

Saw this one couple week s back - 1 Ann Street, Geelong West, Vic 3218
https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-geelong+west-135828954

Our thought process was that it’s a nicely put together place with nice layout and features. But for the expected price (REA was hoping it to reach 1M) seems expensive for 306sqm? We also had some doubts about how well insulated it might be to keep warm/cold. We liked the glass windows, but also could be a tad exhibitionist with the proximity to the street. Will be interesting to see what it goes for this Saturday.

would like to hear any other thoughts. We are FHB and looking forward to exploring Geelong more.

 

14 Carinya Avenue, Newcomb, Vic 3219 - Property Details (realestate.com.au)

David Shih....wowza at this place. Regulation stock standard late 50's build home for $582K!!

That's staggering actually. I recall a place i think at 5 Cheltenham Ave Newcomb, an unusual art-deco style brick place selling for about $505K in 2017-18 from memory, but normal Newcomb places were still in the high 3's at that stage. It's like Newcomb now is sort of becoming the Eastern version of Herne Hill, carried upward by the power of East Geelong's pricing and it's very handy location to most places you'd want.

Jakc, i guess Lara will give you a reasonably short train trip to North Melbourne, although you might struggle to get a seat as it's essentially the last main pick-up out of Geelong (although not sure what CV 19's impact on travel numbers are). You'll pay a premium for Geelong West, it's quite expensive because of it's proximity to Pako, CBD and Geelong station.

If you want to cheapen things up a bit though there's parts of North Geelong (Giddings St etc off Victoria St, and maybe even Slevin St/Roseneath St's which are quite close to North Geelong station, and are sort of semi-industrial so the prices would be a bit lower. However you're still quite close to Geelong West's amenities too, it's probably more a short drive though than a stroll. The new Golf course estate is dearer, and Bell Park in the area in and around Separation St offers another option with Sepo's solid shopping strip (and the P.O at North Geelong where i work) being in handy reach.

 

I used to own/renovated/live at 43 Ann st, sold 2011 for $595k, it will be selling again soon and I wouldn't be surprised if if had a $1M price tag....
I also know of a smaller block in Potter st GW that may be for sale soon.
Miss the convenience of GW compared to Syd.
The commute to Melb is a PITA, you can drive at 5am and have a decent run, or walk to the train (because you won't get a park at Geelong station, proposed multievel carpark still not built 10 years on) and stand for the trip (because it is reasonably full by the time it gets to South Geelong).
Look around South Geelong, there's a proposal to make area's (the water board/other old works site high density up to 10 levels (will prob settle at 6), it's close to the city, station and Barwon river walking/riding tracks

 

That’s great insight. 43 looks like a great place. The commute is what’s making me nervous about jumping out of Melbourne to Geelong. I figure if I bike to the station, that cuts it down a bit, but until that express link gets in, looks like a good 2hr round trip to N. Melbourne if not more.

Might re-focus in Lara and inner west suburbs of Melbourne

 

We went to this auction as well. It was a much different area to the Gibbs Street pocket.
We inspected the property prior and it was pretty solid though in need of some renovation particularly the bathroom.

It was currently being rented out and I was a bit confused as to why a recently acquired investment property (only purchased a few years back) was already on the market. Given the amount of tax needing to be paid on earnings + real estate costs + initial stamp duty I wonder what the owner ended up earning in the end.

A mix of potential buyers at this auction, quite a few investor looking types and some families wanting a home. It was snapped up by a late sniper bid. From memory it was about 90k over the top estimated price.

We scouted around the area prior as it is near the space themed streets that I've seen on the marked up Newcomb map as areas to avoid. Do you know if most of this area is ex or current housing commission stock? Is it really best to avoid or is the area gentrifying? It didn't look bad from our amateur drive around and there is the primary school on Newland Street.
There was also the recent sale on the small corner block of Newland Street for 630k which may indicate further moving proves.

There are currently a few on the market from the space names streets (Vega, Mars), just wanting to know if it's worth having a look or is better to keep looking in the prime pockets such as Gibbs? (though of course I can now see this is going to come at a premium).

 

Most of all that spece themed area was originally Commission housing all built in the 60's...there must have been a massive build as if you notice those brick places in streets like Saturn St, Neptune Ave etc, they are all pretty similar, as are many in the area off Richard St like Hibiscus Cres and surrounds. Breakwater and Thomson have similar builds, as are the American themed streets in Corio too..Henry Bolte must have had the whole state employed building houses back then.

I don't think too many in Newcomb are commission anymore, a lot were sort of people buying them, like a mate's Mum has in Hibiscus Cres, and by now they are pretty much privately owned. I will say though that it really looks like no house on a regular sized block in Newcomb will be gettable for under $500K now, and sixes now seem quite regular. If nothing else, it may be as I mentioned before perhaps it's just Newcomb now matching it's sister suburb on the West side of Geelong in Herne Hill. Vis-a-vis East Geelong, Newcomb was always great value compared to other areas of Geelong, but it's now caught up.

 

The "planet name" streets from memory are the ex-houso ones. They were all built the same or very similar inside which is why I think they used to be ex-houso. But now probably have been sold off to normal owners/landlords now. They will never be the same as Gibbs and will be sold much cheaper instead.

@Dave3214 is back at it again And wowsers indeed that's an amazing result...I have no idea how it achieved this! Regardless that property s not too far from my IP so pretty happy with this staggering result.

For anyone who is looking to invest in Geelong make sure you reach out to our true local Dave3214 especially if you're on the ground. A wealth of local knowledge which you just cannot go past! Tip - hit him up over a coffee/burger and you'll get so much back

Cheers,
David

 

Hi Brendon, can you please share the threads about Newcomb? i'm looking to invest up to $600k for capital growth in Geelong. from my research to-date, find Newcomb is the best option and presume the prices will go up due to ripple effect...can someone share the best/worst streets for a IP and also any others Geelong suburbs that i can targeted for? thanks

 

If was, renovated/built as a forever home.....
The people who bought it from me didn't last 6 months doing the Melb commute
It used to take 1.5 hours to N.Melb, imagine its longer now.
Proposed zoning is for around south geelong to go 7 storey plus

 

Lots of 10+% price increases in this list
Geelong property hot spots emerge from surge in home sales - realestate.com.au

 

We are still looking in Newcomb, however the stock on market has been pretty low/ main roads. There are a few available near the Whittington/ Newcomb border but I have been getting lower rental approximations for these properties with some suggestion that we would need to be careful with applicants. The marked up map of Newcomb on Property Chat does not really include these border properties in any designation (good or bad) so I was wondering how they compare to the ex housing commission areas of Newcomb or Whittington (as they are closer to Solar Drive and its offshoots).