The wider Ballarat area drove the decline, with prices plunging 1.6 per cent since the start of the year, worse than any other part of the state.

The figures from the PropTrack house price index put the average price for the Ballarat statistical area four - which stretches from Ballan to Beaufort and up to Dunolly - at $557,000, just behind Bendigo as the most expensive region outside Melbourne and Geelong.

But not only did Ballarat show the weakest short-term performance, it was also the worst in the medium and long-term stats.

The data showed Victoria's two biggest inland cities struggling since the market peak in 2022.

Both Ballarat and Bendigo were down 3 per cent over the period, but while Bendigo was up 0.8 per cent in 2024 and 1.1 per cent for the past 12 months, Ballarat had plunged 5.3 per cent since March 2023, by far the worst in the state.

The South West was the best performed region since the 2022 peak, dropping just 0.4 per cent, while Shepparton and Hume eased 0.5 per cent.

But while Shepparton and Hume had grown 2.5 and 3.1 per cent in the past 12 months, the South West was heading in the opposite direction, plunging 3.2 per cent.

Looking further back to pre-pandemic house prices, country Victoria has recorded the weakest growth of any regional area in Australia except the Northern Territory.

Prices in regional Victoria have risen just over 40 per cent since March 2020, while the same areas in Queensland and South Australia spiked by 66 per cent, and in Western Australia, Tasmania and NSW by more than 50 per cent.

It puts the average regional Victorian house at $584,000, well behind both NSW ($715,000) and Queensland ($647,000).

Within Victoria, Ballarat got the least benefit from the COVID price boom, with home values rising 28.2 per cent, barely half the national average.

Bendigo fared better, with a 43.4 per cent surge, but the South West, North West, Shepparton and Hume recorded much stronger rises of over 50 per cent.

Regional Victorian real estate has grown at nearly triple Melbourne's rate in the past five years, but some regions have given homeowners particular bang for buck.

The South West topped the charts, surging 63.1 per cent since the start of 2019, with Shepparton prices also growing more than 60 per cent.

Hume, the North West and Gippsland were also big winners, rising between 56 and 59 per cent.

The biggest cities notched the weakest percentage growth, Bendigo rising by 50 per cent and Ballarat just 35 per cent.