Property experts say working from home priorities and a "renaissance" of interest in historic properties is causing a spike in sales in the central Victorian city of Ballarat.
On average, regional Victorian properties are spending 35 days on the market before being sold at an 81.9 per cent clearance rate, according to Real Estate Institute Victoria (REIV) data.
Median sale prices in central Ballarat doubled between 2016 and 2021 to $698,000.
In nearby Sebastopol, houses in the fourth quarter of 2020 were selling for an average of $445,000. As of the same quarter in 2021, median house prices reached $565,000.
The quarterly price change of houses in regional Victoria overall has increased by 3.7 per cent.
REIV president Adam Docking said more of the same was expected over the next two years in regional Victoria.
"Now is a great time to get in the market, while you still can," Mr Docking said.
"Nowadays, with technology, you don't need to be in the city to work in the city. As long as you've got good internet access, you can work where your laptop is."
Mr Docking said an increase in house prices would be expected, but not in the same way as we had seen in the past two years.
"Obviously the craziness of the pandemic was a supply-demand issue but because we are seeing less supply there will be less demand, so we won't have such high increases over quarters," he said.
Commercial Real Estate agent David Wright said businesses in 2022 had new working from home priorities, which had also had an impact on the commercial leasing industry.
"The changing commercial market since COVID struck us all … and that office leasing market has somewhat slowed," Mr Wright said.
Mr Wright said Ballarat's retail leasing, on the other hand, was beginning to see a turn for the better.
"There is always an element of vacancy in Sturt Street in Ballarat. There has been a lot of change in the past 18 months," he said.
"You'll see a lot of new businesses. It's a revolving door."
Mr Wright said other real estate areas in Ballarat had flourished where others had stalled.
"There's also been a turnover of older-style buildings as well.
"There is a renaissance in back to beautiful — old, historic and lovely, solid buildings — and we've had good success around the CBD of late."
