Regional Victoria is the stand-out market in Australian real estate.   For the past two years many of the strongest growth markets in Australia have been found in Regional Victoria.   The regional centres of Victoria continue to provide a series of buoyant markets where demand is strong, vacancies are low and prices are growing.   While Melbourne markets, generally speaking, have been trending down, regional markets outside the state capital have been heading in the opposite direction.  The uplift in Regional Victoria was led initially by regional cities and towns closest to Melbourne. Suburbs in the City of Greater Geelong experienced strong price growth for 2-3 years (some had annual growth above 20%), while there was big uplift in towns like Pakenham and Officer on the south-eastern fringe of Melbourne.Then the growth spread to key centres a little further out, including Ballarat in the north-west and Warragul and Drouin in the south-east. The hill change towns immediately north of Melbourne also thrived. Partly this was driven by buyers out of Melbourne - both home-buyers and investors - seeking affordable prices and/or higher yields and/or a more relaxed lifestyle, helped by the growing numbers of people who work from home at least part of the week.   Gradually, the growth has rippled further out. It’s now common to find locations two, three or more hours from Melbourne recording annual price growth above 10%: Echuca, Benalla, Wangaratta, Bright, Mildura and others have all enjoyed double-digit growth in their median house prices.   This edition of the Top 5 Victoria Regional Hotspots gives you the pick of the crop - plus the data to explain why these locations are thriving and the growth drivers that will continue to push them into the future.