Soldiers Hill booms in Ballarat

The inner northern suburb recorded an 8.2 per cent increase in house prices in the first three months of 2017.

It is a figure that will continue to climb when 600 new government workers move to Ballarat’s Civic Hall site in 2020.

There was more strong growth for Ballarat with Alfredton jumping 6.5 per cent and Mount Clear 4.8 per cent for the quarter.

Real Estate Institute of Victoria data showed all three suburbs sold at least 30 or more houses to record the figure.

Ballarat Real Estate’s Alistair Morrison said he predicted the suburb and others around it to boom as Ballarat’s population increased.

“With 600 jobs coming to Ballarat, a lot of those people will want to be close to the station and want to be close to the Civic Hall site, and those suburbs will take off,” he said.

“The announcement from the budget will only make it better.

“Central properties are going to continue to advance dramatically over the coming years.”

Mr Morrison said suburbs such as Alfredton would also continue to attract families.

“There is a lot of infrastructure going in there, including a school and 600 people is a lot of people, in a relatively short amount of time,” he said.

“I think Ballarat is only going to naturally see growth there.”

Former Soldiers Hill resident Susan Murdoch sold her Nicholson Street property in mid-2016 after she moved there from North Fitzroy in Melbourne.

Ms Murdoch said Soldiers Hill’s location near the Ballarat Train Station had made it perfect for her commute to Melbourne.

“Compared to living in North Fitzroy, we got a much bigger house and I was able to commute to work in Melbourne,” she said.

“We noticed the area became a lot more popular over the seven years we were there and a lot of the houses were being bought up by people.

”It is a 10-minute walk into town and close to local schools, you could walk everywhere.

“A lot of cafes have opened up in the area.”

When they first moved in 2008, Ms Murdoch commuted to Melbourne while her husband worked in Ballarat, but they moved last year to a rural property with more land.

Although homeowners looking to sell will buoyed by the price rises, it will force buyers attempting to break into the market to look elsewhere.

The state government cut stamp duty for first home buyers on properties sold under $600,000.

It also increased the first home buyers grant for newly-built homes in regional Victoria.

This will benefit buyers at Ballarat’s new housing estates at Delacombe, Lucas and Alfredton.

Mr Morrison said there were still options available in Ballarat.

“People will have to look at other alternatives, but the great thing about Ballarat is there are good affordable options, going in around Delacombe, Lucas or Miners Rest, where they are not so far out from the CBD,” he said.

”The reserve bank kept interest rates on hold this week, so money is at a cheap affordable rate and you have the government offering grants from July.

“Reserve bank rates 1.5 per cent is a historic low level and pretty affordable.”