INSIDE THIS EDITION…
OUR BEACH HERO, PAGE 3
20 JANUARY - 2 FEBRUARY, 2023
BELLARINE’S NUMBER ONE NEWSPAPER
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Howzat! Beach cricket fun Impromptu games of beach cricket are what summer is all about. Certainly Will, Harry, Ted, Hunter and Henry thought it was a good idea at Ocean Grove main beach on Monday. With a week left of the high-summer season, tourists are making the most of the time they have left in the region before school starts back.
Property price correction By Matt Hewson Bellarine house prices corrected in the last quarter of 2022 according a local agent, although the area avoided the downturn many Geelong suburbs experienced. According to new data from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV), house prices overall in the Greater Geelong region dropped by 1.9 per cent during the October-December quarter, though most areas experienced less than two per cent movement in either direction. Growth in prices on the Bellarine slowed significantly, but did not see the same level of negative growth as Greater Geelong, buoyed by
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continued rising prices in Portarlington and Barwon Heads, which recorded a 5.9 and 4.0 per cent increase in prices, respectively. Hodges Ocean Grove director Jason Burmistrow said such a price adjustment was expected after the “COVID boom we had”. “We’re seeing things return to a somewhat normal market; homes are taking a little bit longer to sell, a lot of home need one or two price adjustments in order to sell,” Mr Burmistrow said. “We didn’t really experience that at all over the last couple of years. “But homes that are priced and presented well are selling, while those that are still trying to get the COVID prices, slightly above market
value, are hanging around.” Despite figures suggesting continued strong growth in areas such as Barwon Heads and Portarlington, Mr Burmistrow said many agents felt the correction was still in progress. “(The figures) are a bit surprising; if you look at the Barwon Heads market, there are more properties for sale there than there have been for a very long time,” he said. “The feedback from people on the ground is, prices aren’t going up. They’re holding pretty steady, but days on market are pushing out and there are more coming in on a daily basis. “There has been a push over the last 12 months for the Portarlington market, with the
ferry and the pub, and a bit of development in the area. “But again, if you have a look you can see there are a lot of properties that have come up for sale in Portarlington and not a huge amount of sales.” Mr Burmistrow said the oversupply of properties in many areas would likely continue to provide opportunities for buyers in the next six months. “There’s a lot more stock, which gives good buying opportunities,” he said. “No one really knows what will happen in the long term, but in the short term there are a lot of good buys out there.”