At 7.8% annual growth, Mildura property market ‘ticks boxes’

MILDURA is one of the strongest property markets in Australia and “certainly ticks the right boxes” for investors, according to a leading property analyst.

Propertyology managing director Simon Pressley, an accredited property investment adviser, said a high proportion of investors often overlooked regional locations that offer great potential.

Mr Pressley said Mildura’s 7.8 per cent increase in median house price over the past 12 months was superior to all Australian capital cities and only Hobart, Canberra and Melbourne had produced a higher rate of capital growth over the past three years.

He said that while there was no such thing as a “perfect” property market, the Mildura Property Market Research Report showed the region ticked the right boxes.

The analyst said the Mildura market had been “incredibly consistent” for almost three decades, with the average annual growth over the period being 4.5 per cent.

“Over the past 28 years, Mildura’s median house price has more than tripled from $78,000 in 1990 to $270,000 as at December 2018,” Mr Pressley said.

“The largest property market downturn ever experienced in Mildura was in 2008 (the year of the global financial crisis) when the median house price declined by just $10,000,” he said.

“Contrast this against the $225,000 decline in middle-ring Sydney over the past two years and one can only hope that property investors are now starting to re-evaluate Mildura’s potential.

“Mildura is a shining example of a regional location that continues to produce solid results.”

Mr Pressley said that over the five years ending March 2019, Mildura’s 25.6 per cent price growth was on par with Canberra and superior to Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Darwin.

Rents, according to property data, information, analytics and services provider CoreLogic, have increased by 18.5 per cent over the past five years and 6.7 per cent over the 12 months ending in March, with Mildura’s current median house rent at $320 per week.

“You’ll get change from $300,000 for a good-quality house in Mildura and the 6.1 per cent median rental yield, regardless of the size of your deposit, puts a standard investment property in cash flow-positive territory,” Mr Pressley said.

“While several capital cities are currently feeling the pinch from housing oversupply, Mildura’s vacancy rate of 0.6 per cent is reflective of one of the tightest rental markets in the country.”

Mr Pressley said that on face value, Australian Bureau of Statistics data suggested recent supply should have been sufficient for demand, but the reality showed otherwise.

He said while Mildura’s growth cycle was already under way, there was no suggestion of it being too advanced for new buyers to benefit.