In The News: Cohen Handler’s Zac Jacobs on Victorian Property Hotspots and the Forecast Two-Year Boom

Cohen Handler’s Victorian Business Director Zac Jacobs has been quoted in a major realestate.com.au feature on the Victorian suburbs tipped for a two-year property boom, offering buyers direct insight into where the real opportunities are, and where to be cautious.

The feature draws on the latest Hotspotting Autumn Price Predictor Index to identify the council areas and suburbs leading Victoria’s property recovery, and Zac was sought out as an industry authority on where the real opportunities are and which parts of the market buyers should think twice about.

Here’s what it means if you’re looking to buy in Melbourne or regional Victoria.

Melbourne Is a Buyer’s Market… But the Window Is Narrowing

Zac told realestate.com.au that Melbourne is “absolutely a buyer’s market” right now, with less competition at auctions and a growing number of off-market listings giving purchasers an edge they haven’t had in years.

“We’ve seen in the last couple of weeks, prices of about 80 per cent of properties are selling in, or at, the lower range of expectations, and that’s unusual in a market like this,” Zac said.

Soaring fuel costs and recent interest rate rises have caused some market disruption over the past fortnight, which has softened buyer competition. Melbourne’s preliminary auction clearance rate has sat between 57 and 61 per cent through March 2026, well below the levels that characterise a seller-dominated market.

But the fundamentals pointing toward recovery are hard to ignore. KPMG’s latest forecasts project Melbourne as Australia’s best-performing capital city market in 2026, with house prices expected to rise 6.6 per cent and unit prices 7.1 per cent — outpacing Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth.

For a buyers’ agent in Melbourne, the message to clients is clear: the current conditions favour buyers, but that advantage is unlikely to last as price growth accelerates through the year.

The Hotspot Data: Where Victoria’s Growth Is Concentrated

The Hotspotting report flagged a string of Victorian council areas among the nation’s top ten for rising sales momentum, including Ballarat, Greater Dandenong, Geelong, Hume, Mitchell, and Yarra.

Regional Victoria recorded 15,299 sales in the October–December 2025 quarter, a 32 per cent increase on the prior year. Greater Melbourne logged 34,209 sales in the same period, approaching the record set in December 2021.

Within those areas, 14 suburbs were identified with converging signals of price growth and sales activity. Median prices range from around $400,000 in Broadford through to $1.099 million in Clifton Hill, a spread that reflects genuine opportunity at multiple price points for first home buyers, upgraders, and investors alike.

Where Zac Says Buyers Should Be Cautious

The realestate.com.au feature also captured Zac’s warnings about the parts of the market that buyers should approach with care, the kind of on-the-ground intelligence that doesn’t show up in a hotspot list.

• CBD apartments and outer suburban house-and-land packages: Both segments suffer from over-saturation, with too much supply relative to demand suppressing long-term capital growth regardless of short-term price movements.
• Suburbs earmarked for high-density development: buyers should check what’s slated for construction in any suburb they’re considering. Planning approvals for large apartment developments can fundamentally alter a suburb’s character, and its price trajectory.

“Even Brighton, with potentially 12-storey apartment blocks going up, these things will affect your price growth,” Zac told realestate.com.au. “Because people are moving there for the lifestyle, but if they’re going to be surrounded by apartment blocks and traffic jams, they won’t want to be there anymore.”

This kind of insight is exactly why media outlets like realestate.com.au regularly seek commentary from Cohen Handler’s team. It’s the difference between reading a data report and understanding what it actually means for your next purchase.

Why Buyer Representation Matters in a Transitional Market

A buyer’s market sounds straightforward. More stock, less competition, more negotiating power. But the reality is more nuanced.

When 80 per cent of properties are selling at the lower end of expectations, pricing across the market becomes less predictable. Vendors are adjusting expectations at different speeds, selling agents are quoting wider ranges, and the gap between well-priced stock and overpriced stock is widening.

A Melbourne buyers’ advocate who operates across the market every week, attending auctions, inspecting stock, tracking what actually sells versus what passes in, has the real-time intelligence to distinguish between genuine value and a property that’s simply been overpriced from the start.

Cohen Handler’s Victorian team, led by Nicole Jacobs, covers the full spectrum of the Melbourne market: inner-city prestige, family suburbs across the eastern and south-eastern corridors, bayside markets, and growth areas to the north and west. The team also advises on regional Victorian opportunities in Geelong, Ballarat, and the Mornington Peninsula.

What Comes Next for Victorian Property

The consensus among major forecasters is that Melbourne’s current affordability advantage relative to Sydney, combined with strong population growth, infrastructure spending, and improving sentiment, positions Victoria for sustained price growth through 2026 and into 2027.

For buyers, the strategic question is straightforward: do you purchase now while conditions still favour you, or wait until rising prices and returning competition make every purchase harder and more expensive?

The data, and the experience of Cohen Handler’s Victorian team, suggests that buyers who move decisively in the current window will benefit most from what comes next.

Looking to buy property in Melbourne or regional Victoria? Whether you’re a first home buyer, an investor, or upgrading to your next family home, Cohen Handler’s Victorian specialists can help you navigate this market with confidence.

Talk to our Melbourne team today

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