What to Look For and Where When Buying Property in Victoria

Buying property is never just about price.

It is about what you are buying, where it sits, and what problems you are inheriting without being told.

As we move into 2026, Victorian buyers are facing a market that looks stable on the surface but hides very different risks suburb by suburb, and sometimes street by street.

This article pulls those threads together and explains what buyers should actually be looking for when deciding where to buy and what to avoid.

Start With the Property, Not the Hype

Before location, start with the physical reality of the property itself.

Buyers often focus on styling, renovations, or how modern a property looks. That is rarely where the real risk sits.

You should be looking at:

• Evidence of unapproved or poorly done renovations
• Changes to rooflines, walls, or floor levels
• Garages or rooms converted without permits
• Drainage, fall of the land, and water flow after rain
• Retaining walls, boundary fencing, and easements

Many of the problem properties we see are not old or rundown. They are recently renovated, flipped quickly, and sold before issues surface.

If something looks new but feels rushed, it usually is.

Location Is Not Suburb Based Anymore

The idea that a suburb is “good” or “bad” is outdated.

In 2026, risk is far more localised.

Within the same suburb you can have:

• Streets with flooding or drainage issues
• Areas impacted by traffic congestion or noise
• Pockets affected by planning overlays or future development
• Clusters of investor owned properties with high turnover

Two houses five minutes apart can perform very differently over time.

This is why blanket suburb advice rarely works, and why buyers relying only on headlines often get caught.

Where Buyers Are Still Getting It Wrong

Across Victoria, the same mistakes keep appearing.

Buyers are still:

• Chasing low prices without asking why
• Assuming a renovated property is compliant
• Ignoring planning controls and overlays
• Buying into areas with declining liveability
• Relying on agent commentary without independent checks

These are not market cycle problems. They are decision making problems.

Where Caution Is Warranted

There are areas where buyers need to slow down, ask more questions, and dig deeper.

That does not mean “never buy there”.

It means understanding:

• Why prices are flat or falling
• Why properties keep reselling within short periods
• Why insurance premiums are higher
• Why owner occupiers are leaving

We have previously written about Melbourne suburbs that consistently underperform or create long term issues for buyers. Those patterns have not disappeared just because the market has shifted.

In many cases, they are becoming more pronounced.

Where Buyers Are Still Finding Value

Value does not mean cheap.

It means:

• Strong owner occupier demand
• Practical housing stock rather than speculative builds
• Infrastructure that already exists, not promised
• Streets with consistent property holding periods
• Properties that are insurable and maintainable

Some suburbs continue to quietly perform because they are liveable first and investable second.

Those areas rarely make headlines, but they are where buyers tend to sleep better at night.

The Contract and the Paperwork Still Matter

Even the right property in the right location can turn into a problem if the paperwork is wrong.

Before committing, buyers should ensure:

• The contract matches the title exactly
• Planning controls are properly disclosed
• Building works are supported by permits where required
• Owners corporation details make sense long term
• Special conditions do not quietly shift risk to the buyer

This is where many buyers realise too late that the risk was never the market. It was the contract they signed without fully understanding it.

The Pattern We See Every Year

The buyers who struggle most are rarely unlucky.

They usually:

• Bought in a hurry
• Took advice from people who were not involved after settlement
• Focused on price over fundamentals
• Assumed problems could be fixed cheaply later

The buyers who do well are not speculators. They are methodical, sceptical, and patient.

Bringing It All Together

If you are buying property in Victoria in 2026, the question is not where is booming.

The real questions are:

• What am I actually buying
• What am I being asked to accept
• What am I not being told

When those questions are answered properly, the right locations tend to reveal themselves very clearly.