The aim
The aim of this guide is to present factual data relating to property sales occurring throughout Victoria during the 2015calendar year. It provides time series data for residential property, summary statistics for each of the 79 local government areas and yearly medians by suburb from 2005–2015. This guide also provides some preliminary statistics for 2016 based on sales evidence available at the time of publication.
The information contained in this guide has been obtained from Notices of Acquisition (NOA), which are required to be completed by each purchaser within one month of acquiring any real estate in Victoria.
The State Revenue Office supplies the Valuer-General with a copy of the completed NOA for each transaction under the provisions of the Land Tax Act 1958. The information is collated and loaded to a master property file. The table and charts presented here are derived from analysis of sales data.
Considerable care has been taken to ensure the accuracy and quality of information and the computer programs used to derive these tables and charts. However, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of the results obtained and people using this information are strongly advised to seek confirmation of any statistical information.
Explanatory notes
Statistical accuracy
Only statistics for suburbs with more than 10 sales in one of the past four years have been included in the analysis.
Symbols
^ Fewer than 10 sales in that year.
* Value was carried forward from the previous year due to zero sales in the represented year.
Limited sales recorded for 2016 may cause statistics for that year to be skewed. Similarly small numbers of sales in rural areas in previous years can distort sales trends.
Block size
Some of the transaction data provided on the Notices of Acquisition is either incomplete or of insufficient detail for the calculation of the block size. This affects the calculation of both median block size and median price per unit area.
The median block size is calculated to be the area of the middle item when all the areas, which can be calculated, are arranged in ascending order of magnitude.
The value of price per unit area is determined by dividing each calculable area into its corresponding sale price. The median price per unit area will be the value of the middle item when all such calculations are arranged in ascending order of magnitude.
The value of the median price per unit area is given in dollars per square metre.
Compound growth per annum
This figure shows the nominal annual compound growth that has occurred over the period, expressed as a percentage. Actual increases may vary from year to year but the annual compound growth smooths out these increases (or decreases) and indicates by how much a starting value would need to change each year to arrive at the end value.
Movements in the Consumer Price Index over the period have not been considered in these calculations.
Conversion factors
1 hectare =10,000 square metres
1 hectare = 2.4798 acres
1 acre = 4,046.86 square metres
1 square metre = 10.7639 square feet.
Property classification
The Australian Valuation Property Classification Codes (AVPCC) has been used to produce this report.
The specific descriptions and abbreviations used are shown on pages 10 to 22.
Those classifications marked (#) have been further defined and comprise:
Vacant Residential Site A – less than 2000 sq. metres
Vacant Residential Site B – 2000–3999 sq. metres
Vacant Residential Site C – 4000 sq. metres to 1 hectare
HA is an abbreviation for hectare
SM is an abbreviation for square metre.
Median sale price
The median sale price is the value of the middle item when all sale prices are arranged in ascending order of magnitude.
In some earlier editions of this publication the mean sale price was used to indicate the general level of sale prices. The median sale price was adopted in 1977 and recast back to 1974 to provide a more accurate indication.
It has been observed that the use of mean values has often led to disparities due to the wide divergence of prices within a municipality, particularly the influence of sales at a price much higher than the general level.
Mean sale price
The mean sale price represents the total of sale prices of all sales for the classification, divided by the total number of sales for the classification.
Number of sales
The number of sales comprises the total number of properties changing ownership during the 2015calendar year. In some cases, preliminary 2016statistics are shown and are those sales recorded at the time of publication.
These sale statistics do not include transfers of title that relate to legacies and gifts.
Municipality and suburb township data
Categories
Houses based on a combination of Detached Home, Semi-Detached/Terrace Home/Row House, House and Flat/Studio.
Units based on a combination of Single Strata Unit/Villa Unit/Townhouse, Conjoined Strata Unit/Townhouse,Residential Company Share Unit (ground level), Residential Company Share Unit (within multi-storey development), Strata Unit or Flat, Residential Investment Flats, Individual Flat, Retirement Village Unit.
Vacant Res Land based on Vacant Res A and Vacant Res B.
Price index (base 2014and 2010)
The price indices shown in the municipality tables relate the median price for 2015to those of 2014and 2010respectively. For example, an index of 104.5 for 2013indicates that the median price has increased by 4.5 per cent between 2014and 2015.
The calculation of the index is based on the median sale price for residential, commercial and industrial categories, and median price per unit area for rural categories.
The calculation of an index when median sale price is used is contingent on there being sufficient sales of the same land use classification in the same local government area, for both the current and base years.
When indices are calculated on the median price per unit area basis, the same limit relates to the number of sales with calculable areas. Should these conditions not be met, the letters 'ND' (indicating insufficient data) are printed in the appropriate index column.
Suburb/township classification of sales
The report uses gazetted neighbourhoods and localities as its suburb base, and the boundaries are sourced from LASSI maps (Land and Survey Spatial Information maps).The property classification codes used in the guide are the Australian standards, known as Australian Valuation Property Classification codes,which are used throughout Australia.
Suburb/township statistics are more relevant when a particular socio-economic or cultural grouping is required. Data provided on this basiswill provide a more reliable statistical guide for comparing specific areas than statistics based on a whole municipality.
Total of sale prices
This municipal total comprises the total selling price of all the sales recorded under 'Number of sales', as defined above.
The individual sale price for each property consists of the value of the real estate component and also includes any amount notified as being the value of chattels.