Postcode 3220: Geelong

Just 64km from Melbourne, this second city is rapidly positioning itself as a favourable satellite city for commuters, local business owners and families who love the idea of life in a city by the bay at a discounted price tag when compared to Melbourne prices.

Geelong’s capital growth of late has been stellar in the face of a market correction for Melbourne housing. The reasons are threefold; the first and most obvious is that buyers have explored their options for value and have determined that the relative price differential offers them a product that they’d otherwise be unable to afford in close proximity to Melbourne’s CBD. Take these two properties for example; each are within a brisk walk of their respective city centres and each have similar floor plans, styles and quality of renovation. The red brick single fronted beauty in East Melbourne offers three bedrooms, one bathroom and one car space. The brick cottage beside it is also a brick period cottage offering three bedrooms and two bathrooms in Geelong. Each sold for $1.58M and $765K respectively last month.

The Geelong property offers the second bathroom and a considerably larger backyard than the East Melbourne option. Both are beautifully presented and in similar condition internally. Both properties offer a similar length walk into town and are in pretty, tightly-held streets.

The second reason to support this region’s growth is the infrastructure upgrades and changes to the area. The regional rail upgrade positively impacted commuter travel times when completed two years ago and increased train services have continued to meet the growing needs of the increased commuting population from Geelong.

The beautiful Eastern Beach precinct offers so much for locals, families and visitors alike. The heritage carousel, just one of only 200 in operation globally, sets a beautiful scene for diners and bathers who visit. Developments in the area have been superbly designed to capture the beautiful vista and remain in close walking distance of Geelong’s train station, and the Cultural Precinct (Geelong Gallery and Performing Art Centre; both undergoing expansion and funding) precinct and the city centre itself.

The third (and most important) growth driver is related to jobs. New professional and managerial jobs have been created in past years, particularly decentralised government services such as NDIS, education roles at schools and each university (Deakin and The Gordon), and local health and private sector roles. The increasing numbers of workers who can have flexible work arrangements have given rise to a higher number of Melbourne workers basing themselves in this dynamic secondary city. This SQM chart demonstrates ABS census changes between the years 2011 and 2016 for household income growth. The blue represents Geelong 3320 and the red benchmarks it against the Victorian state average. The stark change signals a strengthening disparity between Geelong incomes and the state average and also suggests that Melbourne incomes are contributing more so to local household economies.

For investors who have enjoyed Geelong’s growth trajectory over the last few years, the capital growth returns are not the only returns they are enjoying. 3320 has recorded strong rental growth too; an investment facet that has not been matched in Melbourne’s inner suburbs.

Geelong city spans many suburbs, but it’s postcode 3220 that packs so much punch. From prestige schools, Skilled Stadium (for all those Cats footy fans), great bars and nightlife (including Geelong Cellar Door, Mrs Bartronica, Beav’s Bar, The 18 th Amendment Bar and many others), beautiful parks and a stunning Arts Precinct, it is little wonder why this postcode exhibits a growing population and has delivered a median price change of 7.1% in the past year.