Looking at the local market, Bartons Real Estate principal Mark Barton believes that value for money is one of Yellow Rock’s big draws.
“What you get in the township of Springwood for $450,000, in Yellow Rock will get you a substantially larger, newer house with more amenities,” he explains.
Yellow Rock’s property market spiked in 1987, with its median rising by a fraction under 6% during the year’s third quarter, according to Residex figures. This heralded a long period of consistently strong growth, with the median rising from $25,877 in March 1987 to $312,265 by June 2004.
Over the next four years Yellow Rock’s general trend was one of growth, underlined by big quarterly fluctuations. But the wheels really came off during the second half of 2008, with the median dropping by more than $25,000 between June 2008 and March 2009. However, Yellow Rock’s GFC hangover has been cured somewhat, with its September 2010 median of $408,131 signifying an all-time high.
Barton points out that Yellow Rock is a small, owner-occupier dominated, market that sees low sales numbers when growth is slow.“When the market’s going backwards, what you can buy in Springwood is the same sort of price, so everybody tends to come into the town,” he says.
“So limited sales happen in those areas, and some months the average will be $450,000 because only one cottage was sold, and then another month it could be $350,000 because just another one sold.”
Until the once in a generation financial troubles kicked in, Barton believes that Yellow Rock’s growth, was fuelled by continuous demand for its picturesque rural setting. And for treechangers that are after a good dose of nature that’s not too far from the nearest town, Yellow Rock ticks all the right boxes.
“It’s sort of like a satellite town of Springfield on the escarpment of the mountain,” says Barton. “The road that takes you there ducks along the tops of the ridges, and goes through three or four valleys and Creek areas, before you end up a few kilometres from the main road at Yellow Rock. On the way you’ve got large acreages with big houses on them.”