by Kathy Gandolfi
MILLICENT has recorded the highest increase in property prices last year in regional South Australia with a whopping 34.21 per cent gain according to the latest figures released by the Valuer General.
The town’s median price of homes sold last year rose to $255,000 from $190,000 in 2020.
Elders’ Millicent Residential and Lifestyle Sales Consultant, Kerry Smith said the most demand for properties in Millicent and district came from interstate people.
“People from Victoria and New South Wales are the biggest group, and a few from Adelaide,” Ms Smith said adding that some were families but most were middle age and above.
“I think, with the Covid situation, people have reassessed their lifestyles and decided to move out of the cities.
“We are half way between Adelaide and Melbourne and we have good services, and groundwater; many people have never heard of a bore before.
“People are surprised by what we have to offer.
“They sell up in the city, buy something here and still put a bit of cash away.
“I think it will stay the same if interest rates stay low – we’re still reasonably priced compared to the city.”
Ms Smith said while housing represented the majority of sales, commercial property was also selling.
“We still have some actual businesses on the market but a lot of interstate people are buying into commercial property,” she said.
“It’s great to see the shops filling up and the street looking fuller.”
Ms Smith said listings of properties for sale had dropped to just a handful when usually there would be more than 100.
Some properties had sold which had previously been sitting on their listings for up to four years, others had sold above their asking price, some people are knocking on resident’s doors asking if they will sell and making them an offer, and some are selling before expressions of interest periods have ended.
“The high demand has driven the prices up, definitely,” she said.
“When the pandemic began I thought I would be looking for a new job, as I thought real estate would crash but quite the opposite has happened.
“In my 20 plus years of being in real estate, this is nothing like we have seen before.”
Des Noll, Mayor of Wattle Range Council, welcomed the news of Millicent’s top rank on the Valuer General’s report.
“I’m actually not surprised because when we look at what’s happening in the Limestone Coast and, more importantly, locally in Millicent, there are a lot of houses being built and a lot of land being subdivided and developed which is good economically for the community,” said Mayor Noll.
“I would suggest that Covid has had a fair part in this where people have decided to come to regional South Australia and a lot of people have travelled between Melbourne and Adelaide and think Millicent to be the perfect place to be positioned if they have family living in Adelaide or family living in Melbourne.
“People who have arrived have identified Millicent as having sufficient services and we are a very well connected community so that people have had a good response when they have visited Millicent, so they have decided to purchase homes and stay.
“People have been able to sell their residences in metropolitan areas, come to a community such as Millicent where house prices are lower, they have invested in real estate in this area and they have had extra disposable cash to live their retirement lifestyle.
“I think that has been a big plus and now we are seeing the local house prices rise and pushing the boundaries in terms of prices, but people are still coming and that’s pretty exciting for our community in terms of economic development and future planning,” he said.
According to the Valuer General’s data, Mount Gambier’s house prices increased by 15.12 per cent with a median value of $335,000 up from $291,000 in 2020.
Naracoorte had an increase of 14.89 per cent with a median price of $258,500, up from $225,000 in 2020.
Real Estate Institute of South Australia chief executive, Barry Money said that the results continued to demonstrate the outstanding growth trajectory of the South Australian regional real estate market.
Mr Money said towns which have seen the largest growth over a 12 month period were Millicent and Victor Harbor at 26.44 per cent.
He said top selling towns in terms of recorded sales over the December quarter were Mount Gambier, Murray Bridge and Victor Harbor.
“The total volume of sales this quarter approached 8,000 which is an extraordinary result for South Australia,” Mr Money said.
