From Fitzroy to Hampton - hip, not haughty, is the new prestige

Cashed-up buyers are seeking cafe culture over cachet, as a new frontier for prestige real estate emerges.

The property market boom of 2015 has altered the benchmark of what constitutes an upmarket area when measured by median prices, which grew in many suburbs.

But the definition of luxury property is also evolving, with wealthy house-hunters seeking lifestyle and land size over the bragging right of living in a traditionally prestigious postcode.

Property experts say the new breed of high-end postcodes are cosmopolitan, rather than posh.

Once working class and under-the-radar postcodes, including Hampton in bayside Melbourne and inner-city Fitzroy, are increasingly sought by affluent buyers.

St Kilda West is one of the most expensive suburbs in Melbourne, with a $2.5 million median, third only to Toorak and Deepdene.

Edged by the Catani Gardens and the beach, it is a suburb more hip than haughty, despite its whopping prices.

North of the Yarra, boutique property developer Michael McCormack, director of Milieu Property, is building five townhouses in Hertford Steet, Fitzroy, aimed at buyers in the $970,000 to $1.2 million bracket.

“Most of our projects are in Fitzroy, Collingwood, North Fitzroy and Carlton and that is because we see a lot of culture moving towards the inner-north and people are not wanting to so much to live somewhere like Brighton, but the inner-north,” Mr McCormack said.

“There are more things to do, more culture, compared to some of the more established suburbs that might be further out. A lot more restaurants, bars and galleries.

“I think people are more interested in that rather than prestige.”

Suburbs like Toorak and Brighton will always carry a different definition of prestigious, according to Knight Frank senior director Michael Robinson.

Knight Frank is preparing to take two residential developments in Fitzroy to market, in Leicester and Cecil Streets.

“There is a transient buyer now that is looking for something different and they are happy to look outside those other suburbs,” Robinson said.

“Fitzroy sometimes gets associated with New York’s Soho and Meatpacking districts.

“There is a transient movement of people from Hawthorn and Kew – those sorts of areas – who want to be closer to the CBD.

“They are after some larger sizes – generally, our market, of recent times, have been smaller one and twos bedrooms, but developers have seen a niche in the market for owner occupiers.”

Nearby Northcote is becoming more expensive and sought-after, much the way of Fitzroy.

Restaurateur, chef and tv host Scott Pickett looked to Northcote, rather than the leafy east, to open his high-end bistro Estelle and its sister eatery Estelle by Scott Pickett.

For Pickett, increasingly genteel High Street was the perfect fit.

“There are a lot of ‘alternate’ professionals and creative people in the area, people that are highly skilled, have a good income, but just don’t want to be part of mainstream Melbourne,” Pickett said.

“It’s a bit like Brooklyn in New York, I suppose.”

Domain Group chief economist Andrew Wilson said prestige sales in Melbourne in the $2 million-plus and $5 million-plus categories had grown in the six months to December last year.

“Maybe we have to lift the high-jump bar to $2 million median, because maybe a $1 million median just isn’t a prestige suburb anymore,” Wilson said.

“Prestige property has certainly grown in the upper levels. It’s about perception, and that is what has changed.

“Melbourne has sub-stratas which have their own mini-markets. I would suggest that a lot would regard Williamstown as a prestige suburb and is it really a western suburb? It has all the markings of a prestige suburb.”

Buyers advocate Nicole Jacobs said wealthy buyers were keen on Hampton, with some splashing $2.5 million – a price usually associated with neighbouring Brighton.

“Hampton definitely is one of the suburbs that sometimes can be more expensive than Brighton,” Jacobs said.

“We are seeing a lot of expats coming back to Hampton. A lot of my clients will be people coming back from overseas, wanting that family home that is close to the private schools, and some people don’t want to be in Brighton – it’s a very big suburb. And you get a lot of people coming over from Elwood for bigger land.”