Bendigo Property Research Factsheet 1st Half 2018

The Bendigo property market recorded a median house price of $400,000 and $284,000 for units in Q4 2017, representing an annual price change of 5.3% and 18.3% respectively. Investing in Bendigo’s property market offers a unique equilibrium where buyers are benefitting from an increase in affordability yet sellers are still enjoying positive capital growth – particularly so within the unit market. In 2017 houses under the $400K price point remains the most dominant bracket, at 49.2% sales although experiencing a slight drop from 54.3% in 2016, which suggests that although affordable options are still available in Bendigo; however, this is shrinking, and indicates that the time for first home buyers to enter the house market is now. New opportunities are also opening up for the unit market, with interest opening up in two new price segments ($300K-$350K and $350K-$400K) signalling increased level of access to first-time buyers.

Median rents for houses in Bendigo improved over the past twelve months to Q4 2017, currently at $320 per week. Unit rents, however, have softened over the same period to $225 per week. Low vacancy rates of 2.1% in December 2017 continue to demonstrate the strong rental demand in the area, and is on par with that of Melbourne (2.1%). Astute investors are benefiting from 4.4% (house) and 5.0% (unit) rental yields, which are higher than that of Melbourne’s property market, at 2.7% and 3.8% respectively.

The future looks bright for Bendigo with approx. $50.7M worth of new projects set to commence in the 1st half of 2018. These projects comprise mainly of infrastructure developments that will support Bendigo’s future expansion, as well as a balance of mixed use, residential, and commercial developments, which sets Bendigo on the path to sustainable growth.