By Shelby Brooks
Although it’s nothing new to hear Pakenham is experiencing a housing boom, house prices have soared post-Covid-19, surprising real estate agents.
Ray White Pakenham senior sales consultant Gavin Staindl said Pakenham home prices have gone up by around $60,000 in the last 12 months, something forecasters weren’t expecting.
“From a property perspective, the analysts were forecasting significant drops in the market, saying 40 per cent could be wiped off the property market,” Mr Staindl said.
“Yet here we are, 12 months on and it’s actually one of the hottest markets I’ve ever experienced.”
Average property prices in Pakenham have increased from $515,750 to $577,250 in the last 12 months.
Officer increased from $565,000 to $640,000.
“Both towns have gone up considerable amounts, over 10 per cent, which is incredible growth in any market,” Mr Staindl said.
Mr Staindl said the price rise could be attributed to the increase in interest in buying a home in the area.
“When we came out of lockdown we were inundated with people wanting to buy and I didn’t really understand why this was happening,” he said.
“People were just coming out of the woodwork.
“All of a sudden, my colleagues and I, we were looking at each other going hang on, this isn’t all doom and gloom, we aren’t going backwards, all of a sudden prices are starting to take off.”
Mr Staindl said a good indication of how many people were looking to buy is to look at pre-approval levels.
“The pre-approval levels that we have got is greater than that of 2009 when we experienced a rejuvenated turn around post global financial crisis (GFC),” he said.
“Interest rates are also low as they’ve ever been in the history of interest rates, like in 100 years. So a lot of first home buyers are thinking, if I’m going to buy a house, I might as well do it now when I can get a loan at 1.9 per cent.
“These are crazy low numbers so the appeal to buy a property is significant.”
With travel plans on hold due to the global pandemic, people are saving more and can therefore afford a more expensive home, Mr Staindl said.
“Because people can’t really go anywhere, people are saving more. Travelling and weddings are all been put off so all of a sudden people have got a sizeable chunk of money and are thinking ‘what are we going to do with it? Oh I’ll go buy a house!’” Mr Staindl said.
While the growth in the market isn’t exclusive to the Cardinia area, Pakenham and Officer continue to be a popular choice for first home buyers.
“Remarkably, and this sounds crazy, it’s actually still quite affordable here compared to Rowville, Ringwood and Wantirna- places a little closer to the city,” he said.
“Here we’ve got great schools, good public transport, a proximity to the city under an hour and a thriving population boom.”
While about 50 per cent of buyers in Pakenham and Officer are first home buyers, Mr Staindl predicted around 20 per cent to be investors and 30 per cent to be second home buyers either upgrading or downsizing.
Though Mr Staindl pointed out, there are a lot of people leaving the area to make way for the new home buyers.
“A large majority of people are actually moving out altogether to Queensland or rural Victoria,” he said.
“There’s a mass migration or mass exodus taking place.
“That’s also allowing a lot of first home owners to cash in and move into those properties.”
Drouin, Warragul and Korumburra are popular regional destinations.
“It’s a lot of families moving on saying stuff it we’re going to move on with our kids and go somewhere else,” Mr Staindl said.
