WHERE would you rather live?
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In metropolitan Melbourne, $310,000 can get you a storage warehouse in Northcote complete with a bathroom.
In East Bendigo, a three-bedroom house with a large backyard and floorboards throughout could set you back less than $300,000. A shed in the backyard almost has as much floor space as the Northcote warehouse.
The difference in the property market between Melbourne and Bendigo is vast for a range of reasons, and has been for some time.
And now it’s becoming even greater.
In the last five years, the median house price in metropolitan Melbourne has increased from $500,000 to $775,000. For units and apartments, the increase was from $450,000 in 2011, to $560,000 in 2016.
The figure has rapidly increased since mid-2013.
In Bendigo, the median house price in 2011 was $325,000. Towards the end of 2016 it had dropped to $303,000, before a rapid rise to $450,000 in the last quarter of the year.
The median price in Bendigo has hovered near $380,000 since 2014.
The figures from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria showed house prices in regional Victoria have increased marginally since 2006.
Luke Goggin Real Estate agent Sue Opie said Melbourne investors were increasingly looking to Bendigo as an entry point into the property market.
“In the last couple of weeks we’ve sold multiple properties to people from Melbourne,” she said.
“When they can’t get into the Melbourne market, they’re looking at our affordable prices as a real option.
“We find if a property is properly maintained, then you can expect the price to increase about $10,000 per year.”
Ms Opie said the rental returns in Bendigo were often better than in Melbourne. Suburbs like Kennington, Strathdale, Quarry Hill and the Bendigo CBD were the most popular for buyers.
Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce attracted ire when he suggested those struggling to buy property in the capital cities should head to the country.
But is it as affordable as it seems?
The 2017 Housing Affordability Survey by Demographia gave Bendigo a score of 5.7, factoring in house prices against median incomes. A score above 5.1 was considered “severely unaffordable”.
Most regional Australian cities fell into the unaffordable category, according to the metric.
Yet compared to Melbourne’s score of 9.5 – the sixth highest in the world – regional Victoria remained one of the more affordable areas in Australia.