Value for money and the lure of a tree change are drawing plenty of homebuyers to Melbourne’s booming south-eastern suburbs.

There has been a 7-8 per cent increase in pricing on the back-end of the pandemic and lockdowns in the last six months, according to Barry Plant Pakenham and Drouin director Dan O’Loughlin.

“We are seeing an influx of buyers coming to Pakenham, Drouin and Officer for a lifestyle change and their dollar is stretching a lot further,” he said.

“This region is offering decent block sizes and the local amenities and infrastructure are just fantastic.”

Mr O’Loughlin said there are plenty of properties available but the “pool of buyers is still bigger”.

“The locals have embraced the opportunity to sell up as their property’s value is a lot more now than it was just two years ago,” he said.

“Now we have local buyers who are looking to upgrade to those second or third family homes or even acreages.”

Statistics compiled by realestate.com.au for 2020 showed Pakenham leading the charge for new residential development suburbs, securing second place in the national ‘Top 10-selling Suburbs’ with 733 sales.

“Thinking outside the box” was the only way to pull through during a COVID-hit market according to Barry Plant sales agent Amanda Claridge, who was on the verge of giving up her real estate career when the pandemic hit.

“I was only just starting to find my feet in a new industry ... I was ready to call it quits,” she said.

“I had to push everything to the limit and that meant listing properties I hadn’t inspected, meeting vendors, giving appraisals and even selling via zoom.”

Ms Claridge said a surge of first-home buyers and upsizing families has dominated the market in the region recently.

“At least 30 per cent of people who are inspecting a property are new buyers,” she said.

“Properties in the suburbs in and around Pakenham are flying out the door, people are realising they can get a lot more for their dollar out here.”

A massive result was 448 Bessie Creek Rd, Nar Nar Goon that sold in November. However the sale fell through after multiple contract extensions and the vendors relisted the property. 

“The property sold again within 24 hours for $100,000 more than the previous sale price,” Ms Claridge said.

Ms Claridge said her quickest sale was within 36 hours of listing and most properties sold within the first week.

“It has been surreal, we are showing 30-40 groups through each open home inspection and multiple offers are flying in,” she said.

“I have been working seven days a week to keep up with the demand, the market is on fire.”