HORSHAM and Ararat recorded a drop in house prices in the last quarter of the calendar year in 2019, while Stawell's has jumped almost six per cent over the same timeframe.
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Figures from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria showed between September and December, the median house price for Horsham Rural City was $240,500.
This represented a downturn of 1.8 per cent compared to the median in September. However, median house prices were still 2.3 per cent above what they were in December 2018.
Wes Davidson Real Estate principal Wes Davidson said he had noticed more inexpensive homes selling in Horsham in the second half of the year, and this could have had an effect on the median price.
"There has been more interest from first home buyers in recent months since the 2019 Federal Election, and since the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority released less stringent guidelines on how much people could borrow and lending has become more flexible," he said.
On January 1, the federal government began its First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, a program that allows eligible first home buyers on low and middle incomes to purchase a home with a deposit of as little as five per cent.
In regional Victoria, the scheme is capped to properties worth $375,000.
Mr Davidson said the scheme had not yet had an impact on Horsham's property market, but would.
"There is a lot of information still to come out, but I have heard a couple of people indicate they plan to take advantage of it," he said.
A CoreLogic report provided to the Mail-Times showed 320 properties were newly listed in Horsham across 2019, and there were 130 on the market as of Friday.
Ararat Rural City homes sold for a median of $211,500 in the three months to December, a 2.8 per cent drop compared to September. While Northern Grampians Shire median house prices jumped by 4.8 per cent in three months to a median of $220,000.
JB Barham real estate principal Rodney Baxendale said investors trying to get into Stawell's residential property market for the past 12 months had kept the market strong and housing supply low.
"It's a matter of waiting for the right house to come up or for a block of land to become available right now," he said."
Across regional Victoria, the institute reported house prices grew by 2.2 per cent the previous quarter to set a new median price record of $422,500.
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