The new year is shaping as a time of promise in property Jess Nardella and Laura Antonello at their Newport property. MELBOURNE'S most affordable suburbs may soon become out of reach with areas such as Thomastown having a growth of up to 8 per cent last year. Harcourts Victoria chief executive and agent Sadhana Smiles said the area had attracted a lot of interest from buyers. "Thomastown and Epping are set to boom in 2014," Ms Smiles said. We held auctions right up until the end of December ... and had a huge increase in the number of people bidding in Thomastown. Whenever you have competitive bidding you are going to get competitive prices. Houses in Thomastown had a median price of $388,000, while units were priced at $296,000. RP Data Victoria Market Specialist, Robert Larocca said the market would have a strong growth in the $500,000 to $750,000 bracket. Areas set to boom. "Inner west of Melbourne is the one to watch out for in the next three to five years," Mr Larocca said. Newport and Yarraville in the inner west - those are two suburbs that have been undervalued for years. They clearly represent fantastic values, when you compare their distance to the CBD and the amenity in the local suburb and the purchase price with what you would get in the east and southeast. Ms Smiles said suburbs such as Glen Waverley and Berwick had also performed well at the end of December. However, she said the market was not witnessing a boom of previous years. "Certainly we are starting to see an upward shift in the market," she said. It is better than what it was last year. What we are seeing is a market that is stable and is rising at a steady pace. Ms Smiles said factors such as rising unemployment would keep the market cautious. "The second half of 2013 saw the market starting to shift momentum," she said. We had a number of super Saturdays with auction clearance rates around 70 per cent within our own company. Our auction belts were doing auctions until the last weekend in December which is unusual. Many of our offices have had their best Decembers on record. Ms Smiles said low rates would mean the upward trend in property continued. However, Greg Hocking Real Estate director Greg Hocking said Melbourne's affluent inner suburbs had benefited most from the low interest rates. "The more affluent suburbs are the ones that will power on the back of the confidence that has already been seen because of lower interest," Mr Hocking said. But the mortgage belt will be for economic reasons be under pressure. Mr Hocking said inner-east and south-eastern suburbs such as Camberwell, Toorak and Hawthorn had had an improvement in their prices by 10 to 15 per cent. But he said there were pockets in inner bayside areas such as Garden City in Port Melbourne that still remained undervalued. Homes were fetching a price of about $800,000. HAVING grown up in Williamstown, moving next door to the more affordable Newport made perfect sense to Jess Nardella. Mr Nardella and his partner Laura Antonello bought a two-bedroom single storey weatherboard six months ago. "Being a kilometre or so from Williamstown, it was more economical to purchase in Newport," Mr Nardella said. It was more value for my money but I get the same benefits here. Mr Nardella, who works in Spotswood, said the location of the house was easily accessible to both his and Ms Antonello's work in the CBD. And there was a family feel to the area. "It is central to work and close to a park to walk my dog," he said. I grew up being near water. And it is still a short car ride to the beach and we can walk to the cafes. A developer, Mr Nardella bought the unrenovated house for $590,000 at auction. This area is growing. " It is much better value, being on the cusp of Williamstown," Mr Nardella said. Williamstown is hard for me to afford but I wanted to remain fairly local. Newport is the best of both worlds for me. Mr Nardella said the suburb was perfect place to bring up a family. "We are planning to start a family in the next two or three years," he said. I want my children to grow up in the area because it has good schools and good family environment. It is a safe area and has a local community feeling.