Six months to sell: Victoria’s most stubborn seller districts revealed – realestate.com.au

Stubborn home sellers have pushed Victoria’s list of areas where it takes six months or more to sell a home to the highest level since the depths of the state’s 2020 lockdowns.

There are now eleven cities or suburbs where a typical house takes more than six months to find a buyer, compared to just two months ago, one in November 2023 and none in 2022.

According to PropTrack figures, this is the highest number since the state had 14 areas that had to wait six months before they could make a sale in November 2020.

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But with interest rates falling and house prices generally rising, experts are tipping the scales on long-distance sales, which last more than 250 days in places like Hepburn Springs, Kalimna and Venus Bay. This is a sign that home sellers are increasingly confident that their home will sell.

Agents have revealed that a growing number of people willing to dig in their heels and wait for a buyer to pay the price they want are being rewarded, although many more have decided to enter the market and sell closer to buyer expectations, after years of withdrawing houses from the market while they lingered for a few months.

This Hepburn-area home sold late last month for $690,000 but was listed in April.

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Hamilton, Maldon, Apollo Bay, Lorne and Port Fairy also made the list of areas where it takes at least six months for a typical house to change hands.

The PropTrack data only tracks homes sold in the past year.

SQM Research founder Louis Christopher said further data analysis showed many of the areas were still well below historical norms, while as many as 75 percent of homes took more than half a year to sell.

While sellers became more confident their homes would sell as interest rates fell, and holding on to a higher price were likely factors behind the increase, Mr Christopher added that it is a “fact of life” that homes in regional areas take longer to sell.

“If you’re willing to enter the market, you should be able to sell pretty quickly,” he said.

But the respected real estate expert warned those who chose to lock in a higher price to do so with caution.

A Lorne home that hit the market in December 2024 and sold in September for $2.5 million.

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Pointing to regional mining towns, he noted that macro factors can sometimes quickly change the situation in regional areas.

There had been owners in places like the mining town of Karratha in Western Australia who had been ‘wiped out by being stubborn’.

“Regional cities can be much more influenced by what happens in the local economy,” Christopher said.

Mr Christopher said that in areas such as Hamilton, high sales times were normal and, despite the extension of market days, there were actually relatively few houses for sale by historical standards.

“There is a rise in inventories, but it is nowhere near historic levels… and overall it is not that bad at all,” he said.

Belle Property agent Natalie Fagan said the Hepburn Springs area has been through a challenging period, with a number of shops in the area closing about 18 months ago.

Since then it has started to revive, as has the wider area, with new shops opening in the place of the old, bringing more confidence – and more sales for home sellers.

A house in Venus Bay that was put up for sale in July last year, and then again in June this year, sold in September for $455,000.

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“If you were there a year ago you would have seen the closed shops and might have been a little concerned… but now houses are being sold in the area,” Ms Fagan said.

“There are currently two sales channels: people wait longer and reach their price, or they sell faster by lowering the price.”

The agent added that this was great news for buyers.

Real Estate Institute of Victoria spokesman Jacob Caine said many of the regions were holiday destinations where prices had soared during the pandemic.

“And now the prices have been adjusted, but they (the owners) have resisted so far,” Caine said.

“But the overall trajectory of the Victorian market is positive, especially compared to previous years.

“Sellers therefore have every reason to be optimistic about future sales results.”

However, he added that with holiday home owners hit by land tax bills earlier this year, it was possible that some would start hunting for a buyer in response – but with a clear idea of ​​the price they wanted.

A Port Fairy home sold for $950,000 in July after being listed for sale in December.

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Speaking about Lorne and Apollo Bay, Darren Brimacombe of Great Ocean Road Real Estate said that in recent years many homeowners who had seen homes struggling to sell had simply chosen to withdraw after a few months.

Today’s figures likely reflected a growing share of owners accepting that prices had been “adjusted” after “it got blown out of proportion” during a pandemic boom in 2021 and early 2022.

“Price expectations and market expectations are in line at the moment, so we think the market has stabilized itself and you should see that time diminishing over the next six to 12 months,” Mr Brimacombe said.

Where it takes more than six months to sell a house

Hepburn Springs (homes): $750,000 – 258 days

Kalimna (homes): $460,000 — 257 days

Venus Bay (homes): $493,000 — 254 days

Hamilton (units): $270,000 — 225 days

Maldon (homes): $739,000 — 212 days

This Apollo Bay home sold for $1.55 million in August but was initially listed for sale in October 2024.

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Apollo Bay (homes): $910,000 — 206 days

Dinner Plain (homes): $797,500 – 292 days

Lorne (homes): $1.65 million – 194 days

Rochester (homes): $425,000 — 193 days

Port Fairy (homes): $857,500 – 191 days

Clear (homes): $1.03 million – 183 days

Suburbs include the average price for the nominated property type and the average number of days on the market

Source: PropTrack

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