Six months to sell: Victoria’s most stubborn seller suburbs revealed

It’s taking upwards of six months to sell homes in some of Victoria’s best loved areas — and that’s great news for homebuyers.

Stubborn homesellers have pushed Victoria’s list of areas where it takes half a year or longer to sell a home to its highest level since the depths of the state’s 2020 lockdowns.

There are now 11 towns or suburbs where a typical home takes more than six months to lock in a buyer, up from just two a year ago, one in November, 2023, and none in 2022.

It’s the highest number since the state had 14 areas facing half-year waits to notch a sale in November, 2020, according to PropTrack figures.

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But with interest rates falling and home prices generally rising, experts are tipping the long-haul sales, taking more than 250 days in places like Hepburn Springs, Kalimna and Venus Bay, are a sign homesellers are increasingly confident their home will sell.

Agents have revealed a growing number of those who’ve been prepared to dig their heels in and wait for a buyer to pay the price they want are being rewarded, though far more have decided to meet the market and sell closer to buyer expectations after years of withdrawing homes from the market when they lingered for a few months.

This Hepburn area home sold for $690,000 late last month, but was listed in April.

Also making the list of areas where it takes a typical home at least six months to change hands were Hamilton, Maldon, Apollo Bay, Lorne and Port Fairy.

The PropTrack data only tracks homes that have sold in the past year.

SQM Research founder Louis Christopher said further data analysis showed many of the areas were still well below historic norms when as much as 75 per cent of homes took more than half a year to be sold.

While vendors becoming more confident their home would sell amid rate decreases, as well as holding out for a higher price, were likely factors behind the increase, Mr Christopher added that it was a “fact of life” for homes to take longer to sell in regional areas.

“If you are willing to meet the market, you should be able to sell pretty quickly,” he said.

But the respected property pundit warned those who chose to hold out for a stronger price should do so with caution.

A Lorne home that hit the market in December, 2024, and sold in September for $2.5m.

Pointing to regional mining towns, he noted that sometimes macro factors could rapidly change the situation in regional areas.

There had been owners in places like the Western Australia mining town Karratha that had been “wiped out by being stubborn”.

“Regional towns can be a lot more influenced by what’s happening in the local economy,” Mr Christopher said.

Mr Christopher said in areas like Hamilton a high timeline to sell was normal, and that despite the days on market extending it actually had relatively few homes for sale by historic standards.

“There’s been a pick up in stock, but it’s nowhere near historic levels … and in the scheme of things, it’s not that bad at all,” he said.

Belle Property agent Natalie Fagan said the Hepburn Springs area had gone through a challenging period with a number of stores in the area closing about 18 months ago.

It has since begun to revive, as has the wider area, and new stores are opening in place of the old ones, bringing more confidence — and sales for homesellers.

A Venus Bay home listed for sale in July last year, and then again in June this year, sold for $455,000 in September.

“If you’d gone there a year ago, you’d be seeing the closed shops and you might be a bit worried … but now homes are selling in the area,” Ms Fagan said.

“There’s two sales avenues at the moment, where people do wait longer and they achieve their price, or they do sell faster by lowering the price.”

The agent added that this was great news for buyers.

Real Estate Institute of Victoria spokesman Jacob Caine said many of the regions were holiday destinations where prices had soared during the pandemic.

“And now the prices have adjusted, but they (owners) have resisted for the time so far,” Mr Caine said.

“But the overall trajectory of the Victorian market is positive, particularly when contrasted with the previous couple of years.

“So vendors have justification to feel optimism about what future sales results might deliver them.”

However, he added that with land tax bill assessments having hit holiday home owners earlier this year, it was possible some had made decisions to hunt for a buyer in response to them — but with a firm view of the price they wanted.

A Port Fairy home sold for $950,000 in July, after being listed for sale in December.

Great Ocean Road Real Estate’s Darren Brimacombe said for Lorne and Apollo Bay, many homeowners who had watched homes struggle to sell had simply chosen to withdraw them after a few months during the past few years.

Today’s figures likely reflected a growing share of those owners accepting that prices had “adjusted” after “it got out of proportion” during a pandemic boom in 2021 and early 2022.

“Price expectations and market expectations are meeting at the moment, so we believe the market has levelled itself out and you should see that time decrease over the next six to 12 months,” Mr Brimacombe said.

Where It Takes Six-Months-Plus To Sell A Home

Hepburn Springs (houses): $750,000 — 258 days

Kalimna (houses): $460,000 — 257 days

Venus Bay (houses): $493,000 — 254 days

Hamilton (units): $270,000 — 225 days

Maldon (houses): $739,000 — 212 days

This Apollo Bay home was sold for $1.55m in August, but was initially listed for sale in October, 2024.

Apollo Bay (houses): $910,000 — 206 days

Dinner Plain (houses): $797,500 — 292 days

Lorne (houses): $1.65m — 194 days

Rochester (houses): $425,000 — 193 days

Port Fairy (houses): $857,500 — 191 days

Bright (houses): $1.03m — 183 days

Suburbs include median price for nominated property type, and average days on market

Source: PropTrack

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