Victoria’s second city gives investors what Melbourne currently cannot: a house around the $750,000 mark, a yield in the mid-fours, and a rental market sitting near 1% vacancy. Here is why it is our next pick.
Every market we back has to clear the same bar: genuine owner-occupier demand, constrained supply, real infrastructure, and numbers that work for the investor holding the property. Geelong clears it, and it does so at a price point Melbourne left behind years ago.
Melbourne’s median house sits at $1.04 million with gross yields of 3.2–3.6%. Geelong offers a comparable family home for around $750,000, renting at a 4.2–4.6% gross yield, with vacancy near 1.2%, well inside undersupplied territory. For a growing cohort of Melbourne workers and priced-out buyers, Geelong is not a compromise. It is the plan.
This is the driver that separates Geelong from every other regional centre: it is genuinely commutable, and getting more so. Geelong Fast Rail is shortening the run to Melbourne, the Princes Freeway connects it to the western growth corridor, and Avalon Airport sits between the two cities and keeps attracting investment. Add the $294 million convention and event centre precinct rising on the waterfront, and the direction of travel is unmistakable.
Investment follows liveability. Geelong has a working waterfront, the Surf Coast twenty minutes away, established schools, a university, a major hospital precinct and a genuine city centre. Population is growing at 1.5–2.0% a year, and the people arriving are families and professionals, the owner-occupiers who underpin long-term price growth, not speculators.
Melbourne’s median house is $1.04 million. Geelong offers a comparable family home for around $750,000, and for a growing cohort of Melbourne workers and priced-out buyers, that is not a compromise. It is the plan.
Gross yields of 4.2–4.6% against Melbourne’s 3.2–3.6%. The income side of the ledger works from day one, at roughly two thirds of the entry price.
Geelong Fast Rail is shortening the run to Melbourne, the Princes Freeway ties it to the western growth corridor, and Avalon Airport between the two cities keeps attracting investment.
The $294 million convention and event centre precinct rising on the waterfront anchors a genuine city centre, not a commuter dormitory. The direction of travel is unmistakable.
Vacancy sits around 1.2%, well inside undersupplied territory. Family houses rent quickly at $600–700 a week, which is what underwrites the yield.
Population is growing 1.5–2.0% a year, and the arrivals are families and professionals, the owner-occupiers who underpin long-term price growth, not speculators.
We buy houses only in Geelong, and only one configuration: four bedrooms, two living areas, two bathrooms and a double garage, in the $730–800k range, renting at $600–700 a week. It suits families, rents quickly, and appeals to the owner-occupier buyers who will set tomorrow’s prices.
Geelong was named a market in focus at The Meridian Investors Edge presentation on 26 August. Watch Adam Duffy and Angie Zigomanis unpack the new rules, the outlook to 2031 and the full Geelong case.
Book a strategy call with a Meridian consultant and we’ll test whether Geelong, or another of our markets in focus, fits your position, no cost and no obligation.
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Refer someone →The case in this analysis: a median around $750,000, gross yields of 4.2–4.6% (versus roughly 3.2–3.6% in Melbourne), vacancy near 1.2%, and committed infrastructure including Geelong Fast Rail and the $294m convention and event centre precinct.
Around 4.2–4.6% gross — roughly a full percentage point above comparable Melbourne stock, with vacancy near 1.2% keeping rental demand firm.
About an hour by road or V/Line rail, with Geelong Fast Rail planned to shorten the trip further — close enough to draw on Melbourne's employment market while priced well below it.
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