Melbourne’s Yarra Ranges, a small town is struggling to become the Australian mountain bike capital, withstood the impact of the market recession, leading Melbourne’s housing prices.

According to real estate website Realestate, Melbourne’s Warburton Redwood Forest is picturesque and popular as a tourist hotspot on social networking sites. The data shows that Warburgton’s median house price has risen 20% in the past year, reaching $527,500.

Warburton has the highest price increase in Melbourne’s jurisdiction. Beaconsfield Upper followed, with median house prices up 14% year-on-year to $1.03 million.

Clyde North, Diggers Rest and Portsea prices rose by 13%, while Essendon, Windsor and Cairnlea prices rose by 10%.

Ashleigh Hall, head of the Yarra Junction division of the real estate agency Professionals, expects Warburton’s housing market to continue to “go forward and rise”, in part due to more than 100 kilometers of new mountain bike trails and intermodal construction.

Warburton attracts buyers, in addition to affordable housing, there is also a large plot of land covering at least 800 square meters.

Major local buyers include: buyers of Chinese-Italian holiday homes, for own use or for rent through Airbnb; flexible work/commuter buyers, semi-permanent homes.

Nerida Conisbee, chief economist at Realestate, said that in the past year, affordability has helped prices in Victoria’s local regions rise against the market, led by Geelong and Ballarat.

Conisbee believes that Melbourne’s broad market looks “close to the bottom, even at the bottom”, predicting that prices will resume its upward momentum.

Melbourne’s highest housing prices:

Warburton: Median house price rose 20% year-on-year to A$527,500

Beaconsfield Upper: Median house price rose 14% year-on-year to A$1.03 million

Portsea/Clyde North/Diggers Rest: Median house price rose 13% year-on-year to A$2.35 million/$595,060/$504,000

Essendon/Windsor/Cairnlea: Median house price rose 10% year-on-year to A$1.495 million/A$1.4 million/A$778,000

Launching Place: Median house price rose 9% annually to A$562,500

Alphington: Median house price rose 8% year-on-year to A$1.765 million

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