Cheap land up for grabs

BLOCKS of land in Ballarat are selling more cheaply than in other regional cities across Victoria.With a median price of less than $100,000, Ballarat blocks are up to $40,000 less than similar centres.The low prices have attracted millions of dollars in interstate investment, with buyers from Darwin and Brisbane snapping up 80 blocks in the past 12 months. Figures from the State Government show the median price of a block of land in Ballarat in June last year was about $98,000, well below the Melbourne average of $143,000. Buyers wanting a block in Bendigo would need to pay just over $100,000, while the median price in Shepparton is about $108,000. Warrnambool and Wodonga buyers would need to find more than $120,000 while Geelong's median is almost $146,000.Former Jens Gaunt real estate agent Nigel Suter said the cheap land had led to the sale of more than 80 blocks, worth more than $6 million, to a group of investors based in the Northern Territory and Queensland.He said the sale showed a great deal of confidence in the city. "They all seemed to think that the land is too cheap in Ballarat, way too cheap," he said. "And they think there is a good capital-growth potential with the explosion of Melbourne and bigger regional towns."Mr Suter said houses would now be built on the blocks, located in Macarthur Park and Manna Park, with some to be kept as rentals and others sold as house-and-land packages."These guys are professional investors and are worth tens of millions of dollars," he said. "To see them coming in and buying that amount of stock shows they have a lot of confidence in the market, whereas perhaps locals don't."It will affect prices, it will push them up but that is good for anyone who owns a property and as far as I can see, the Ballarat housing market has remained stagnant for years while everything else in Australia has risen." Real Estate Institute of Victoria Ballarat division chairman John McKinnon said land values in Ballarat offered a good opportunity for builders and buyers.