There is still little sign of any knock-on effect from the Melbourne house market downturn with prices in most suburbs rising steadily. Redan prices had a particularly noticeable surge, going up 9.8 per cent in the last three months, while other strong rises occurred in Black Hill (8.3 per cent) and Mount Pleasant (6.8 per cent).

There are several suburbs in Ballarat where house prices have grown by around a quarter in the past year, including Redan and Wendouree.

Property owners in Mount Pleasant are also likely to see high net gains in their house values over the past year, with average values rising by more than 34 per cent - although fewer than 50 sales have taken place in the suburb in the last 12 months.

"It's interesting - a lot of the Melbourne suburbs have gone down 30 per cent," said Allister Morrison of Ballarat Real Estate. "You can be an hour and 20 minutes up the highway but they are different stories when it comes to property prices."

Last month, The Courier talked to several local estate agents, who all predicted that increasing demand from internal migration - including many from Melbourne - and Ballarat's relative affordability was likely to keep the local market buoyant.

"People have been looking at Ballarat and saying 'for a lot less money, I can get a pretty awesome house and have access to much better services, facilities and education and healthcare'," said Mr Morrison.

House prices have fallen in only two areas - Lake Wendouree properties registered a slight 0.7 per cent drop year on year, while house costs in Buninyong fell by 2.4 per cent annually.

However, the average house price growth around the city as a whole was 11.3 per cent, with median house prices just a few thousand dollars shy of the $400,000. They currently stand at $395,000, compared to $387,000 in the final quarter of last year.

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