Victoria’s property market is defying this month’s interest-rate rise with buyer numbers rising in the following weeks, compared to the same time a year ago.

Aussies are packing up and moving in droves to the southern reaches of the country, with new research revealing pockets of regional Tasmania and Victoria are emerging as new migration hotspots.

House prices jumped in a string of relatively affordable suburbs in 2025 as middle- and higher-income buyers priced out of unaffordable neighbourhoods looked further afield.

First-home buyer Lilly Mackay has joined a new wave of young Melburnians rushing for pre-approval, with Loan Market Group figures showing finance approvals are up to sixfold in parts of the city this spring.

With interest rates falling and auction clearance rates sitting at their highest in two years, spring buyers are re-entering the market at full speed – but they’re not all looking in the same two suburbs.