Geelong is attracting strong investor interest that’s helped push home prices in September. Picture: Alan Barber

Nearly $10,000 has been added to the Geelong’s median home price this year as the market recovery continued in September, new data shows.

New PropTrack Home Price Index figures confirm Geelong’s home prices moved higher in September, but have a long way to go to recover to the last peak in 2022.

The report reveals .22 per cent growth for the month contributed to a 1.26 per cent annual rise.

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This represents annual price growth of almost $9350 and pushed Geelong’s median dwelling value – combining both houses and units – up to $742,000 in September.

Geelong’s median value for a house climbed 1.34 per cent in the year to $782,000, while 1.22 per cent annual growth pushed the city’s median unit value to $563,000.

But the region has to recover 9 per cent in value to match the last peak in the market in 2022, which calculates at about $66,000 based on the median dwelling price.

PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh said the housing market remains on a firm upward trajectory this spring.

PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh said renewed confidence was unpinning price growth.

“The combination of increased borrowing capacities and lower borrowing costs, stronger buyer

confidence and renewed competition is underpinning a broad uplift, while momentum is shifting,” Ms Creagh said.

“While affordability pressures remain, this year’s series of interest rate cuts, improved sentiment, and the October expansion of the Home Guarantee Scheme, are expected to keep upward pressure on home prices in the months ahead,” Ms Creagh said.

“With stock on market constrained and new supply challenged, demand-side stimulus will intensify competition.”

Ms Creagh has said Geelong has added benefits to homebuyers and investors of comparative affordability, lifestyle appeal and hybrid work flexibility.

Barry Plant chief executive officer Lisa Pennell said falling interest rates, widening of the First Home Guarantee and better conditions for investors was feeding demand for homes.

“First-home buyers are being driven by the incentive that’s on offer and investors are being driven by fact the market is so undercooked compared to the other states.

Barry Plant chief executive officer Lisa Pennell said investors, particularly from interstate, were seeing the opportunity for capital growth in Victoria.

“It is undercooked because the legislation down here caused a lot of investors to leave the market – the compliance costs and obviously land taxes.

“That is now reversing because investors are seeing there is a huge opportunity for capital growth if they can sustain in that interim period.”

Hayeswinckle agent Matthew Roberts said investors and buyers accessing the low-deposit government guarantee were incredibly busy across Geelong, but people looking in the bridesmaid suburbs are set to reap the rewards.

“I’ve never seen so many investors in the last three months,” he said.

“If you’re in a bridesmaid suburb, like on the fringe of East Geelong – where there is no stock – the big winners are going to be the next suburbs over, like Newcomb or Thomson.

“Grovedale is unbelievable at the moment and the reason being because there’s no stock in Highton and Belmont. You’ve got all these buyers that have the budget to buy in Belmont, and they see similar value in Grovedale.

“Grovedale has been massive over the last three months and that’s just a product of the tight stock situation.”

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Title insurance firms gearing up for the implementation of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) Anti-Money Laundering Regulations for Residential Real Estate Transfers Rule can slow their efforts. On Tuesday, FinCEN announced that it was postponing the implementation of the policy from Dec. 1, 2025, to March 1, 2026.

The rule requires title firms to report specific details on all-cash home purchase transactions. These include the names, addresses, dates of birth, citizenship status and ID numbers of all people involved — including minors — plus payment details and information about trusts and entities that are purchasing the property. 

In a press release, FinCEN the decision was made to “reduce business burden and ensure effective regulation.” 

“FinCEN is taking this step to provide industry with more time to comply — consistent with the Administration’s agenda to reduce compliance burden — while still adequately protecting the U.S. financial system from money laundering, terrorist financing, and other serious illicit finance threats,” the release states. 

To implement the extension, FinCEN has issued a temporary order that grants exemptive relief from the reporting requirements. FinCEN noted that in the meantime, the Geographic Targeting Orders remain in effect. 

The rule is currently at the center of a lawsuit filed against FinCEN and its director Andrea Gacki, as well as the Department of the Treasury and its secretary, Scott Bessent by title insurance firm Fidelity National Financial. 

FNF filed its suit in May 2025. Most recently FNF has claimed that the implementation of the rule will cause it “irreparable harm,” and it has asked the court for a preliminary injunction delaying the enforcement of the rule. Earlier this month, the suit’s defendants, which include FinCEN, told the court in a legal filing that delaying the implementation of the rule was improper. They also argued that an injunction would disrupt FinCEN’s enforcement efforts and national security goals. 

In addition to its motion for a preliminary injunction, FNF has also filed a motion for summary judgment, a move the American Land Title Association threw its support behind by filing an amicus curiae brief. 

ALTA CEO Chris Morton expressed his pleasure at the news of the delay in an emailed statement.

“FinCEN’s decision to postpone its reporting requirements shows recognition of the valid concerns raised by ALTA members and Congress about implementation,” Morton said in a statement. “There are serious concerns about the immense financial and compliance burdens of this rule on the small businesses that comprise 90% of the title insurance industry. This delay gives ALTA more time to work with FinCEN to revise this costly rule that places significant burdens on title companies.” 

The Broker Public Portal (BPP) is launching a new chapter in its effort to provide an industry-owned alternative to major home search websites — rebranding its national homebuying platform under the name Cribio.

Leaders behind the project say the move reflects both a commitment to consumers and a reassertion of trust between brokers, agents and multiple listing services (MLSs).

“This is the next big thing,” said Craig Cheatham, president and CEO of The Realty Alliance. “There’s a natural flow to the real estate transaction, and that is a primary goal of this project — to create the online experience that consumers are seeking that matches the natural flow of the transaction.”

Cheatham said Cribio aims to eliminate the confusion and frustration that can occur on competing portals when consumers are steered toward business models that may not align with their needs.

“Ultimately, real estate professionals are looking to provide clarity and guidance and erase confusion and make this as smooth as possible,” he said. “We think that will make this site popular with consumers and obviously popular with agents and brokers.”

‘Picking the side of the consumer’

For BPP leaders, choosing the name Cribio was more than a marketing exercise.

“We’re always going to have this balance between what the industry wants and what consumers want, and we’re going to have to pick a side here if we want to build that trust,” said Dan Troup, CEO of BPP. “We see Cribio as picking the side of the consumer and making sure we build that trust.”

Troup added that the name, like other national portals, is short, easy to remember and intentionally nondescript.

“It represents everyone in the industry, represents all brokers, and hopefully is an easy-to-spell, easy-to-remember place that will have all the listings,” he said. “We get to define what Cribio offers to the consumer, and we’re just starting down that path now.”

Working with MLSs and brokers

Since its founding in 2014, the Broker Public Portal has worked hand-in-hand with MLSs to aggregate data and streamline access for consumers. Cheatham said that collaboration remains critical.

By uniting brokers and MLSs, Cheatham said Cribio can provide an option that builds consumer confidence without diverting them into referral networks or advertising-driven experiences.

Challenging the norm

BPP leaders detailed what stands out to them as shortcomings in competing platforms — while also offering praise to their growth strategies.

“When we developed our own websites initially, we were guilty of making them fit the broker and agent model,” Cheatham said. “And then we saw the new portals that were disruptors come in by serving the consumer so well. But they also had the fatal flaw of steering it toward their own business model. Consumers were finding that the agent they clicked on didn’t even live in that community — they had just paid to show up on this listing.”

Vice President of Products Tyler Olmsted said that Cribio is designed to avoid those outcomes.

“When we think about our mission, especially as it stands today, we want to change that narrative and win over consumers while keeping everything we’re building owned by the industry,” he said. “We look at what Zillow has done and how they’ve won consumers, and we love the path that they’ve taken. They take a really strong approach to making it consumer first.

“What we see traditionally from brokerage and MLS tech is they’re trying to serve the agents. They’re trying to serve the brokers, and that ends up as a disjointed experience for the consumer, and they don’t end up winning the trust.”

Leveraging relationships

Unlike Zillow or Homes.com, Cribio will not rely on high-cost advertising campaigns or pay-for-placement models.

Instead, leaders say, its strength comes from industry alignment.

“When you don’t know any consumers, you have to advertise,” Troup said. “The good thing is, we do have the consumer. We [Cribio] represent the agents and brokerages that represent 90% of the transactions out there today.”

Olmsted said the key is leveraging that connection between agents and consumers.

“A great way to win over these consumers is to show them the collaboration piece with the agents and with the brokerages,” he said. “It’s about showing them what we can solve that something like Zillow can’t. We can create an agent experience where they can start saving searches, finding properties and truly collaborating with their buyers and sellers on the platform.”

MLSs pay per-member fees to back Cribio — ensuring it can operate without relying on advertising, referral fees or lead charges, Troup said.

Cheatham stressed that trust and governance are central to Cribio’s long-term viability, even when it was called The Broker Public Portal

“Brokers and agents have been burned by vendors turning on them,” he said. “Sometimes that’s just a matter of mission creep, where all of a sudden they’re forgotten. Sometimes the vendor just sells out, and next thing they know, the vendor that was on their side is now competing directly with them.

“People want to know who owns this this — and because (Cribio) is an organic industry cooperative between the brokerage community and the MLS — they say, ‘Okay, we will have the ultimate user group continually providing input and steering this project to keep it relevant, to keep it functional, to keep it serving our needs. And it’s never going to turn on us.’”

The price of a typical house in Australia’s capital cities has surpassed a million dollars, but that doesn’t mean you need to move to the sticks for an affordable freestanding home.

Property prices reached a new record high in September according to the latest PropTrack Home Price Index, with the price of a median capital city house now sitting at $1.1 million.

So to get a decent property for half the price, how many sacrifices are required?

Perhaps not as many as you think. If you’re prepared to consider these locations, you can get a home for less than $500,000. You could even secure a home with water views.

Southern gems 

Tasmania’s property prices draw first-home buyers and investors looking for quality freestanding homes.

In Devonport there’s still a chance to secure something for less than $500,000, but you’ll have to be quick. In the range up to $500,000, Brad Green of Halliwell Property Agents said he had seen a lift of 10% in the past six months alone.

For those seeking something “under 500” it was still possible to get “something neat and tidy inside and out, but buyers would likely need additional funds to make improvements. 

One listing at 82 Nicholls Street, priced at $465,000 with retro carpet and timber wall cladding, could easily be turned into a stylish mid-century dwelling.

He didn’t expect it to hang around and said Devonport was “flying” thanks to council spending on infrastructure, a new hotel in the region and proximity to beaches. 

Mr Green said most of his enquiries were coming from buyers’ agents across the country and although first-home buyers wanted in on the action, “first-home buyer contracts can drag on for months,” and those who are prepared to pay cash could get a better price in exchange for a quick sale. 

“Best kept secret”: Rare, affordable beach houses

If you haven’t heard of Golden Beach in Victoria’s Gippsland region, you’re not alone.

William Tanner of Golden Beach Real Estate says it’s “Victoria’s best kept secret”. It’s true, because you can secure a beach house here for less than $400,000.

One recent listing at 15 Ocean Court, priced at $380,000 was, “Pretty standard for a two-to-three bedroom, two streets back from the beach,” he said. 

Golden Beach, on one of the many spots along Ninety Mile Beach has remained immune to dramatic price hikes. Mr Tanner said prices had been stable for the past 12-18 months.

The buyer market is mostly holiday makers and investors providing short term accommodation. About half an hour from Sale, it’s not too remote. 

If you prefer to be warmer all year around, head up north to Mackay where you can secure houses and semi-detached properties for less than half a million. 

In the heart of town, Guardian Real Estate has a two-bedroom cottage at 18 George Street on the market for $449,000. It needs some love, but it’s ripe with potential and close to the water. 

If you’d rather secure land to build your dream beach house on, you can pursue large plots of elevated land, with impressive coastal views, just north of Mackay, for $125,000. 

Regional centres are hot 

In Perth, the regions are thriving too, with PropTrack data recently showing Spalding in WA was the number one location for investors nationally, with an accessible median of $398,000, solid 12-month growth and a strong rental yield. 

Over in Rangeway, a suburb of Geraldton, a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home at 8 Carter Street is on the market for $495,000. It has a patio, deck, double carport and parking for three cars. Plus it’s just moments from the ocean. But if you need to head to Perth, it’s a four-hour drive. 

In New South Wales, there are still properties listed for less than $500,000 – although not many – and if you’re looking for a house on land you may need to compromise, even in the regions.

Grant Maskill-Dowton of Rain & Horne Bathurst said freestanding homes in the sub $500,000 range are, “in need of repair” because they were often 1950s ex-government fibro homes. 

He recently sold a property for $495,000, close to Bathurst’s town centre. “It had been sub-divided and had no backyard. It was very liveable, but small,” he said. 

Bathurst has a lot going for it, with a good hospital and university,  reasonable proximity to Sydney, a very low rental vacancy rate and strong first home buyer interest.

Because of this, Mr Maskill-Dowton said “demand is stupidly high” and added that residents can get to Sydney in less than three hours.

He admitted houses under $500,000 were few and far between, but “Units are readily available around the $500 bracket.” 

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