Victorian hamlet of Merino heads national list of $100,000 home buy towns: Realestate.com.au

Merino, the Western Districts, Victoria hamlet located 363 kilometres west of Melbourne, has emerged as among the cheapest towns to buy across Australia.

The list, which has 36 towns with $100,000 house offerings, was compiled by realestate.com.au from its May listings. There are 10 locations given in NSW for $100,000 towns, including Barraba, Broken Hill, and Coonamble. There are five in Queensland and South Australia, three in Tasmania and six in Western Australia with $100,000 offerings. Merino is one of seven towns in Victoria with $100,000 offerings, the others including Donald and Inverloch. Both the ACT and Northern Territory did not have $100,000 house offerings, according to the listings website survey.

Merino, Victoria's first inland settlement, has a population of about 364 spread over about 197 dwellings based on the 2011 census.

There are current just four listings on realestate.com.au with prices ranging from $100,000 (pictured above) to $185,000. 

There’s also a $170,000  listing.

The other offering is at $30,000, but it’s just a 1,998-square-metre township zoned  block with shedding.

It had its first European settlement in 1837 when Francis Henty established Merino Downs pastoral station.

A store and post office agency came in 1854, and the first town lots were sold the next year.

In the 1850s, 1860s and 1870s came construction of churches, hotels, schools and the courthouse.

The Merino co-operative butter factory was established around 1885.

After World War 1the area was opened up for soldier settlement.