Affordable four-bedroom houses in Victoria a long way from Melbourne: REIV

First-home buyers looking for a four-bedroom family home will have a hard time finding anywhere within 30 kilometres of the Melbourne CBD. 

Located 35 kilometres west of the city, Melton South is the closest suburb where first-home buyers can purchase a four-bedroom home and pay equal to or less than the average estimated first-home buyer mortgage repayment in Victoria of $414 per week.  

Aside from Melton South, first-home buyers looking for a four-bedroom home can find a residence in Frankston North, 37 kilometres south of Melbourne. 

There are a number of opportunities in rural Victoria for first-home buyers to find a four-bedroom home.  The Real Estate Institute of Victoria has listed such towns as Ararat, Ballarat (Wendouree), Bendigo (Eaglehawk), Colac, Corio, Kyabram, Longwarry, Mildura, Newcomb and Shepparton.

In order to find a four-bedroom home closer to the city, opportunities arise in the $430-$540 per week mortgage repayment range and are found in the outer suburbs of Melbourne.

The suburbs can be found in an interactive heat map showing weekly mortgage repayment price bands across Melbourne suburbs compiled by the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) as part of its new first-home buyer guide.

The REIV has used a cut-off value of $430 per week, which is above the $414 per week median mortgage repayment. As a result of this, the heat map will show suburbs just above the first-home buyers' threshold as affordable. 

 

The $414 per week median mortgage repayment is based on the average first-home buyer loan size of approximately $286,600, a standard variable interest rate of 6.4%, receipt of the $7,000 first-home owners' grant, a loan term of 30 years, a 10% deposit, and benchmark lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) and conveyance fees.

 

The full list starting with the cheapest is:

Ararat, $291 per week, median price of $220,000 Kyabram, $315 per week, median price of $237,500 Frankston North, $331 per week, median price of $249,000 Corio, $344 per week, median price of $258,750 Morwell, $356 per week, median price of $267,000 Melton South, $368 per week, median price of $276,250 Bendigo (Eaglehawk), $373 per week, median price of $280,000 Mildura, $375 per week, median price of $281,056 Sebastopol, $382 per week, median price of $286,000 Horsham, $384 per week, median price of $287,500 Newcomb, $384 per week, median price of $287,500 Longwarry, $390 per week, median price of 292,500 Ballarat (Wendouree), $394 per week, median price of $295,000 Colac, $401 per week, median price of $300,000 Shepparton, $401 per week, median price of $300,000