Projections suggest Ballarat’s population will explode to 120,000 by 2025 and a number of projects are underway to ensure the city can cope.

Director of Ballarat Real Estate Allister Morison said he increasingly met Melburnians who were making the move and planned to commute.

Education opportunities, quality of life and cultural vibrancy were the key reasons city slickers made the move, Mr Morison said.

Prices in Ballarat remain enviable, he said.

Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) statistics show the city’s median house price sits at $317,250, marginally below the regional Victorian average of $346,000.

Melbourne house prices continue to sky-rocket with the inner average around $1.2 million.

Ballarat property prices have increased by 5.4 per cent compared to a 13.6 per cent increase in Melbourne.

“People want to take advantage of the price difference,” Mr Morison said.

“Outer suburbs in Melbourne are often more expensive and don’t offer the same infrastructure and services that Ballarat does.

“You can buy a price here for half of what you can in Melbourne.” 

Mr Morison pointed to central and North Ballarat at the ever-popular suburbs because of their location and access to the CBD.

REIV figures list Sebastopol as one of the state’s top-10 most affordable suburbs with the average price for a three-bedroom home sitting at $240,000. 

Leadership Ballarat and Western Region executive officer Sofia Fiusco said the city’s diversity was a major attraction.

“Ballarat is a vibrant city where there is community participation and the opportunity for people to broaden their skills in certain industries,” Ms Fiusco said.

“It’s a city that is close enough to Melbourne, Ballarat and Geelong and allows people to have a great quality of life while still having access to restaurants.

Committee for Ballarat chair John Kilgour said the city had successfully established itself as a hub for health and education – now the focus needed to broaden.

The challenge, he said, was to draw major employment bodies to the city.

“It’s very challenging and visionary leadership from all tiers of government is needed,” Mr Kilgour said.

The city’s health precinct is its largest employer with 3900 full-time and part-time workers employed by Ballarat Health Services alone.

Chief  Andrew Rowe said significant government investment in the city’s health sector had allowed BHS to become the second largest regional health provider.

AFTER years of living in London, Horsham-born Joseph van Dyk chose to settle with his wife Laura in Ballarat.

The couple, who are expecting their first child this year, wanted to live in a regional area a stones throw from Melbourne.

Mr van Dyk, a property consultant, commutes daily to Melbourne.

He is a strong advocate for regional dwellers commuting to Melbourne but says more must be done to improve access to transport.

Every morning he is confronted by serious delays that make the morning commute a nightmare.

“This will become more difficult when our baby is born,” Mr van Dyk said.

But the young professional said the benefits of living in Ballarat far out weighed the negatives.

“I would leave my job to live in Ballarat if I had to choose between the two,” Mr van Dyk said.

He said investment in fast transport systems and job creation was desperately needed to ensure Ballarat continued to develop its status as a major regional centre.

“Ballarat has everything else. If the train journey could be cut down from one-and-a-half hours to 50 minutes it would make it the same as travelling from Croydon or Frankston. The benefit would be you’re on a V-line which is twice as comfortable and you can generally get a seat.” 

Mr van Dyk suggested Ballarat take the lead from European countries like Holland that he said had mastered the art of public transport.

“My family in Holland live in one city and travel 110 kilometres to work in another,” he said.

The van Dyk’s said decentralisation of major government or private organisations is needed to provide jobs for young professions who want to enjoy the regional life style.

“One or two government business relocations and more transport is all that is needed,” Mr van Dyk said. 

THE decentralisation of major organisations is needed to ensure Ballarat can provide enough jobs to cope with an expected population explosion. 

Committee for Ballarat chair John Kilgour said the proposed relocation of VicRoads to Ballarat would become the catalyst for significant public and private investment in the city.

Research by the organisation indicates the move would create 600 permanent jobs.

The development of a specifically designed centre would inject $56 million into Ballarat, while wages would contribute a further $61 million to the economy.

Regional Development Australia Grampians chair Stuart Benjamin said such a relocation was necessary for the city’s future stability.

“We are in the middle of a CBD revolution and I think the relocation of a large government organisation would give it the kick it is needed and allow Ballarat to reach the next phase,” Mr Benjamin said.

RDA statistics suggest around 7000 people commute daily from Ballarat to Melbourne, while another 5000 come into Ballarat for work.

“One of the things we’ve been looking at is how do we create that metropolitan weekend life in Ballarat?” Mr  Benjamin said.

“(Having a big business) would be an absolute game-changer.” 

In June City of Ballarat chief Anthony Schinck told The Courier investment in Ballarat’s train infrastructure was needed to cope with the city's burgeoning population.

He called for the investment of two extra passing loops on the train line.

“I think it will become an infrastructure necessity over the next decade, I think it moves out of the realms of possibility and becomes a necessity,” Mr Schinck said.

“On the basis of how Ballarat’s population growth will occur and paralleling with the population growth in Melbourne, there will be a need to increase the frequency of trains between Ballarat and Melbourne.” 

Urgent infrastructure investment which prepared the city for the future was needed, Mr Kilgour said.

“I’ve long been advocating for the fast tracking of an additional passing loop and duplication,” he said. “If we don’t plan it won’t improve.” 

These so-called barriers for growth are arguably in the midst of being broken down.

But what about one other factor? Ballarat’s infamous bad weather.

Statistics from the Bureau of Meterology show the forecast may not be so bad, with the city experiencing 55 clear days compared to Melbourne’s 48.

Despite Ballarat’s notoriety the temperature is more likely to drop below zero in old rival Bendigo which has 6.3 mean days under freezing point per year.