Teagan and Andrew Fortunato with their children Amelia and Leo. They recently sold their house in Hume, one of Melbourne’s best-selling properties. Photo: David Crosling.
Several areas of Melbourne are set to experience strong buyer demand from the autumn onwards with property prices expected to rise.
A new report from property analysts Hotspotting, based on property sales data from PropTrack, has also highlighted the region’s Victorian hotspots for savvy buyers to keep an eye on.
The municipalities of Ballarat, Greater Dandenong, Geelong, Hume, Mitchell and Yarra all made the council firm’s list of Australia’s top 10 areas for rising consumer demand, a precursor to rising prices.
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Director of Hotspotting, Terry Ryder, said the capital city of Victoria and its regions are likely to see prices increase in the next 12 months to two years, based on the positive trend in the sales numbers that are increasing, even if it is taken into account that the interest rate is rising and the rising cost of living like at the petrol pump.
The Hotspotting Autumn Price Predictor Index report revealed that across the Hume, north Melbourne, Sunbury, Craigieburn and Greenvale housing markets showed strong growth in the year to December 2025.
The Craigieburn and Broadmeadows unit markets have also shown good growth.
The wider Hume borough recorded a total of 1,817 new dwellings between October and December last year, a 52 per cent increase in nine months.
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Teagan and Andrew Fortunato with their children Amelia and Leo, and their pets Labrador and Husky dogs. They have bought a new house after selling their house in Hume. Photo: David Crosling.
The report found total sales in the Moonee Valley council area, which neighbors Hume, rose 51 per cent in nine months, hitting 914 sales in December.
The housing market in Airport West, Avondale Heights, Essendon, Keilor East, Moonee Ponds and Niddrie have all grown significantly, along with units in Travancore, Essendon and Ascot Vale.
South-east of Melbourne’s CBD, the local government area of Monash entered the market for fixed units in Clayton, with unit sales increasing in Mt Waverley and Glen Waverley and housing sales increasing in Wheelers Hill and Mulgrave.
East of town, Knox saw 820 home sales, a 55 percent increase in nine months.
Hotspotting’s report revealed that its highlights include Bayswater, Boronia and Ferntree Gully, which are for sale.
Hotspotting director Terry Ryder says after years of stagnation, Melbourne’s housing market is set to pick up.
Maribyrnong, in Melbourne’s inner west, and Whittlesea, in the northern suburbs, are also known for rising gross sales.
When it came to regional areas of Victoria, apart from Greater Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo, the smaller regional centers with increasing sales trends included Ararat, Warragul, Echuca, Maryborough, Colac, Bacchus Marsh, Castlemaine, Darley, Wangaratta, Warrnambool and Sale.
Back in Melbourne’s north suburbs, Teagan and Andrew Fortunato’s two children are excited about moving into the Hume house their parents bought a few weeks ago.
The couple moves into the main living space with Amelia, 2, and Leonardo, 4, and their two pet dogs.
“Our daughter understands what is happening, because we took her to the inspection and she keeps asking when we will go to a new home,” said Ms. Fortunato.
When they bought the new four-bedroom pad, their top priorities were location, school facilities and proximity to the freeway for Mr Fortunato, whose job as a concrete pumper requires him to commute across Melbourne.
“At first we were looking to be closer to the city but we couldn’t afford it with the size of the land we wanted,” said Ms. Fortunato.
“And obviously, large blocks are difficult to find a destination in the city.”
During the past few years at their current location, they partially renovated, made cosmetic updates and landscaped with the goal of improving the property’s value before selling it through Daniel Di Battista of Di Battista Real Estate.
The Hotspotting report says there were 34,209 house sales in Greater Melbourne between October and December 2025. Image: NCA NewsWire/Andrew Henshaw.
Ms Fortunato said she was not surprised that the Hotspotting report revealed that Hume was among Australia’s most sought-after areas after seeing significant growth in the area over the past five years.
“Even lining up for your food at the supermarket takes a long time, sorting out school supplies and taking care of the children takes a long time,” she said.
“I think that’s why they are building infrastructure, schools, shops and houses because this area is full of people from here.”
This four-bedroom house at 25 Northgate Blvd, Kilmore, is on the market for $630,000-$670,000. Kilmore, Mitchell Shire, has a median house price of $622,500.
Mr Di Battista said there was some uncertainty in the market and sales were taking a long time to complete.
But with more transactions taking place, he thinks average prices may rise.
“The couple that sell and say, ‘We’ll wait and see what happens,’ I think they’re playing with fire – I think they could go down in the next year or so,” Mr Di Battista said.
You see many buyers selling and buying a new home in the same area or in the neighboring area of Hume.
“We’ve also seen people from across the city reduce their mortgage, buy the same house but on this side of Melbourne and have half of the previous loan,” said Mr Di Battista.
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