Geelong suburbs where sellers home prices hold or fold revealed

Herald Sun

16-05-2025

Fresh data has revealed the Geelong suburbs where buyers or sellers have the upper hand when it comes to sticking to their guns on price expectations.
The PropTrack figures for vendor discounting – where homes sold by private treaty saw the biggest drop between the original advertised price and what buyers ultimately agree to pay – reveals the suburbs where buyers are able to negotiate the best deals.
Coastal areas remained the best buyers' markets over the past 12 months, with prices sliding a median 8.3 per cent in Anglesea and Point Lonsdale between listing and sale, and close to 8 per cent in Portarlington and Barwon Heads.
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Barwon Heads has experienced an overall 20.7 per cent drop in median house price in 12 months to May (to $1.42m), PropTrack data shows, with the vendor discounting data showing sellers continue to grapple with where value sits in the Bellarine Peninsula hot spot.
Pricing homes proved more stable across urban Geelong, with discounting most prevalent across the expensive inner suburbs, especially central Geelong, but also Manifold Heights, Newtown and Geelong West.
Prices ebbed the most for central Geelong apartments, with a 5.7 per cent median discount between listing and sale.
Sellers had it best in areas such as Armstrong Creek, Belmont, Corio, Grovedale, Lara and Newcomb, where the PropTrack data recorded a median vendor discount of zero.
Hayeswinckle, Highton director Michelle Winckle said discounting price guides was more prevalent in more expensive inner suburbs where there were fewer buyers competing for homes.
The data shows prices were most stable in Geelong's northern and southern suburbs.
'It's at a lower level where there's more people competing,' she said.
Geelong's property market has endured a turbulent 24 months, with prices overall trending down until recently.
Ms Winckle said price expectations were often changed to make homes more competitive in the marketplace.
'You often don't know until you've started a campaign and it's just not grabbing the market, so it needs to be adjusted,' Ms Winckle said.
'Quite often, it can still sell at what they originally wanted. It's just about changing up the strategy.'
Buyers advocate Michael Ramsay said more properties were selling in coastal markets since interest rates were cut, though there were still examples of homes being listed at prices well above what the market considered fair.
That was a sign that prices guides were getting closer to buyers expectations compared to the start of the year, Mr Ramsay said.
SuburbData analyst Jeremy Sheppard said there's a correlation between higher discounts and softer demand.
Buying in an area where vendors were accepting offers well below list prices often came with a downside, Mr Sheppard said.
'Bargain hunting is great if you're simply seeking a roof over your head and you plan to stay in the property for 20 years, but from an investment point of view it's not always good,' he said.
'(In a high discount area) you'd have to be confident that you wouldn't need to sell for some time as it will be more difficult for sellers … if you're holding for the long term, this won't be an issue as the market will eventually balance out. All areas will eventually grow if given enough time.'
GEELONG MEDIAN VENDOR DISCOUNT FIGURES
Suburb Property type Median sale price Median vendor discount Point Lonsdale H $1,207,500 -8.3 Anglesea H $1,350,000 -8.3 Portarlington H $863,500 -7.9 Barwon Heads H $1,420,000 -7.8 Jan Juc H $1,270,000 -5.9 St Leonards H $720,000 -5.8 Geelong U $615,000 -5.7 Ocean Grove U $741,000 -5.4 Winchelsea H $650,000 -5.1 Geelong H $880,000 -4.4 Torquay H $1,175,000 -3.6 Newtown U $575,000 -3.4 Manifold Heights H $1,260,000 -3.1 Newtown H $1,150,000 -2.7 Ocean Grove H $955,000 -2.6 Geelong West H $850,000 -1.8 Drysdale H $710,000 -1.3 Lara U $447,500 -1.3 Belmont U $538,000 -1.1 Norlane H $451,000 -1 Grovedale U $496,250 -1 Highton H $861,000 -0.9 Clifton Springs H $652,600 -0.9 Leopold H $650,000 -0.7 Bannockburn H $785,000 -0.7 Hamlyn Heights H $720,000 -0.6 Herne Hill U $368,000 -0.6 Wandana Heights H $925,000 -0.5 Marshall H $630,000 -0.1 Armstrong Creek H $650,000 0 Lara H $680,000 0 Corio H $490,000 0 Belmont H $700,000 0 Mount Duneed H $700,000 0 Grovedale H $663,000 0 Charlemont H $615,500 0 Highton U $500,000 0 Bell Post Hill H $660,000 0 Bell Park H $611,000 0 Curlewis H $638,250 0 Newcomb H $550,000 0 Waurn Ponds H $765,500 0 St Albans Park H $585,000 0 Whittington H $529,000 0 Herne Hill H $700,000 0 North Geelong H $610,000 0 Geelong West U $387,500 0 East Geelong H $765,000 0 Hamlyn Heights U $530,750 0 Thomson H $512,500 0 Lovely Banks H $840,000 0
Source: PropTrack. Median vendor discount for homes sold in 12 months to May 2025. Excludes suburbs with less than 30 sales.