Melbourne home buyers have looked for value and affordability further from the city's CBD, with a high proportion of sales and strong growth in these suburbs helping to stabilise the city’s median price in the final quarter of 2015. 

Melbourne’s median house price fell marginally in the December quarter, down 0.1 percent to a median of $718,000.

However, areas more than 20km from the Melbourne CBD increasing 2.9 percent over September figures. Double-digit quarterly growth was experienced in multiple outer suburbs including Warrandyte (19.1 percent), Greenvale (17.8 percent), Frankston South (12.4 percent), Hillside (11.8 percent), Werribee (11.6 percent) and Parkdale (10.7 percent).

Buyers are increasingly looking for value and these suburbs offer space and affordability without compromising on lifestyle and access to amenities, says Enzo Raimondo, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria. 

Other areas seeing solid capital growth in the December quarter were Prahran (15.1 percent), Hawthorn East (13.96 percent) and Thornbury (12.5 percent).

The number of million dollar suburbs in Melbourne increased in the December quarter to 92 with eight new suburbs entering the list for the first time. First time entrants with a median house price of $1million or more are Parkville ($1.6m), Sorrento ($1.1m), Hampton East ($1,081,000), Parkdale ($1,062,500), Research ($1,030,000), Brunswick East ($1,020,000), Thornbury ($1,017,000) and Rosanna ($1,010,000).

Despite a decline in the December quarter, Toorak remains Melbourne’s most expensive suburb with a median house price of $2,840,000. This was followed by Canterbury and Malvern with median house prices of $2,432,000 and $2,230,000 respectively.