‘A hidden secret’: Melbourne’s most overlooked prestige suburb
Melbourne’s most expensive suburb offers tree-lined streets, picturesque heritage homes and access to sought-after private schools, but some buyers have never heard of it.
Deepdene is the surprise top-ranked suburb on a new list of Melbourne’s most expensive neighbourhoods, recording a median house value of $3,433,956 in the 12 months to February, CoreLogic data shows.
Toorak’s well-heeled residents need not worry. Melbourne’s mansion central was only excluded as it did not meet the research centre’s requirements to calculate a median, which included low sales volumes, and the recent sale of a grand home for well above $100 million cements Toorak as the city’s most prestigious neighbourhood.
But the research highlights the depth of wealth in little-known Deepdene. Despite sharing the same postcode as Balwyn, which Deepdene was part of until declared its own suburb in 2008, house prices in this exclusive pocket of Melbourne’s inner east have outpaced its neighbours.
Nearby Canterbury and Balwyn recorded median house values of $3,090,390 and $2,760,598, respectively.
CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen said Deepdene’s limited availability of housing stock has helped boost property values in the area, adding prices will likely keep rising as buyer demand grows.
Just 35 houses were sold in Deepdene in 2024, compared to 167 in Balwyn and 253 in Kew.
“You’re cutting off a part of Balwyn that was smaller, tightly held, more exclusive and with less diversity in housing stock, which has contributed to a higher median value,” Owen said.
“[Melbourne’s] inner east, more broadly, has always been associated with the higher end market, with the [private] schools … people will pay a premium to be in good proximity to that.”
Owen said buyers need to be “extremely wealthy” or “selling well” to buy into a prestigious suburb such as Deepdene, where homes rarely come up for sale.
“Presumably, these are established home owners who maybe bought when the suburb was a lot cheaper, or they’ve sold something else, and they’ve been able to put that equity towards a new home purchase in this suburb,” she said.
“You have to be able to qualify for a lot of debt as well, which also comes back to high income.”
Marshall White Boroondara partner and auctioneer Doug McLauchlan said although Deepdene was not as well-known as its affluent neighbouring suburbs, it had retained an element of exclusivity that had driven up prices.
“A lot of people who end up buying in Deepdene get there by accident because they’re looking in Balwyn proper or neighbouring Kew, or Hawthorn East or Canterbury,” McLauchlan said.
“It’s a bit of a hidden secret in that regard.”
McLauchlan said house prices in Deepdene could range from $2 million to $6 million, and buyers were attracted to its green spaces, heritage homes and proximity to private schools.
“It’s a very small area with upper middle-class housing, and it’s right in the heart of the private school belt,” he said.
“Demand exceeds supply by quite a margin, and hence it’s competitive.”
Jellis Craig Boroondara partner and auctioneer Ross Stryker agreed Deepdene’s turnover rates were low.
He said it often took two decades-plus for a home to return to the market, as vendors were reluctant to concede their “exclusive” slice of real estate.
“It’s people that have lived in these homes for 30 and 40 years, and they are becoming Baby Boomers that are downsizing, or unfortunately, they are deceased estates. It’s very, very tightly held,” he said.
“I would say that Deepdene, because of its exclusivity, has grown at a faster rate than what other pockets of Balwyn have in that postcode, and that’s because of where it’s positioned.”
Stryker said while many Deepdene homes were protected by heritage overlays, it had become common for family and overseas buyers to demolish properties without heritage protections to build their dream homes.
“It’s a particular pocket that is surrounded by large period homes, expansive allotments of land,” he said.
“There are a lot of older homes there that are bought for redevelopment and made into these magnificent mansions.”
Despite still being relatively unknown, Stryker said Deepdene’s exclusivity had garnered more attention from buyers in recent years.
“Now that it has become better known and it is regarded as being more exclusive, we are now marketing homes specifically under Deepdene, rather than Balwyn, because we want those homes to stand out in the market,” he said.
“It’s the amenities that really make it so desirable. So for instance, you’ve got both Camberwell Boys and Camberwell Girls [Grammar School] … which are walking distance.”
Ray White Balwyn director Helen Yan agreed Deepdene’s prime location near private schools was a key driver, and that because not many homes were put up for sale, auctions were often competitive.
“It’s close to the private schools … that’s why it’s become very expensive,” Yan said.
We recommend
We thought you might like
States
Capital Cities
Capital Cities - Rentals
Popular Areas
Allhomes
More
