By Deanne Jeffers
A REPORT has identified Shepparton as being one of Australia’s top 10 affordable regional areas for real estate investment.
Greater Shepparton was ranked just below Bendigo as Victoria’s best region for buying a home, with the Campaspe Shire was listed ninth in the report by PRD Real Estate.
The report was based on several factors, including affordability, property trends, investment opportunities, project development, and unemployment rates. It found Shepparton to have “solid fundamentals” for future growth, with a 3.9 percent population growth from 2016 to 2021 and a low unemployment rate of 3.3 percent in the September quarter of 2022.
Over the past decade, Greater Shepparton has seen significant growth in house prices, vacant land, and units, with an 82 percent growth in house prices, 123.6 percent growth in vacant land, and 77.7 percent growth in units. The report noted a decline in sales volume for houses and units between 2021 and 2022. However, sales grew by 30.1 percent for houses and 55.7 percent for units over the past 10 years.
The report said that investors in Greater Shepparton benefited from average rental yields of 4.9 percent for houses and 6.1 percent for units as of December 2022.
The vacancy rate of 0.7 percent was also seen as a positive sign for investors, as it suggests that they could find rental tenants faster. The report encouraged investors to enter the market due to the lower entry price compared to Melbourne metro and stronger rental returns.
However, it also noted that the market may not be sustainable in the long term due to the limited supply of ready-to-sell new houses. Although this has created a buffer in the current high cash rate environment, it is not sustainable in the long term.
