Newcastle Property Forecast
Newcastle Property Forecast
For awhile now, Sydney has been the prime real estate hot spot winner for over half a decade, but many leading property experts like Concord based Joe Dirani from Ample Property Solutions has some salient thoughts on this gem of a city.
Joe told us “it’s time for harbour city’s investors to turn their attention to the Hunter region”
As Sydney`s median house price pushes towards a dizzy $1.07 million, investors are actively looking for cheaper alternatives to get into the housing market.
And, while many areas of NSW have recorded a median house price of around $440,000, there’s one spot Mr Dirani believes that ticks off all the boxes for his clients.
“We have been able to purchase for our clients, over $35 Million dollars worth of investment properties over the last four years.
Experience counts ! Absolutely.And we are really excited about the Newcastle region right now !”
Newcastle, 160 kilometres north of Sydney with a median house price of $530,000, is already attracting significant interest from investors all over Australia.
And for good reason !
House prices increased 9.2 per cent in the year to September and 4.2 per cent over the quarter, according to the Domain Regional House Price Report.
The top end of the market in Newcastle is also on the move in a big way.
Records were recently smashed after a six-bedroom 6 Parkway Avenue, Bar Beach house sold for $4.7 million in November.
It had previously sold five years ago for $3.4 million.
Mark Kentwell of PRD Nationwide Newcastle has talked about the multiple $4 million-plus sales recently and stated that he had a “….growing optimism about the city’s revitalisation…..”.
Now what agendas and rules has the NSW government changed from July 1 2017 that have helped push this mini regional boom along ?
They Abolished stamp duty on all homes up to $650,000 and offered stamp duty relief for homes up to $800,000.
Also we saw the provision of the $10,000 grant for builders of new homes up to $750,000 and purchasers of new homes up to $600,000.
The abolishment of the insurance duty on lenders’ mortgage insurance has also certainly helped.
The federal governments decision to force foreign investors to pay higher duties and land taxes was also seen as a welcome move by many investors in Australia.
And this move took some of the pressure from the market.
Previous to the legislation, most first home buyers were limited to the outer suburbs of newcastle.But now they can also consider investing in inner-city areas.
And apart from the lifestyle appeal and conveniences associated with inner-city living, there is the additional benefit of financial security.
Many of the current inner-city properties, such as townhouses and apartments have a solid record of a consistent increase in value over time.
Eyeballing the current figures from BIS Oxford Economics shows us that the Newcastle market is expected to experience growth of around 5.4% and higher in 2018.
There are several pertinent reasons for this.
The much needed revitalisation of the Newcastle CBD – positive impact from new infrastructure like the light rail transport interchange at Wickham and the $95M University ‘New Space’ Building – which is now operational.
The New Space – the inner city campus building is now bringing more than 4000 students into the CBD.
The push for a role of Newcastle as a logistic hub by the NSW state government as well as the federal government.
Very strong employment growth in construction and tourism.
And a lesser reliance on the local mining mini boom from a few years ago.
And unemployment was running around 6% at the end of 2017.
The closure of the steel works did set the town back several years ago and the city was suffering from an identity crisis that saw most store fronts on Hunter St empty which scared a lot of the locals.
But massive growth and confidence in the city is back in a big way and we believe there has never been a better time to own property in Newcastle and its surrounds.
The heart of the city is really strong and that feeling and confidence is pushing outward.
And the city is now booming, which means home owners and investors can also enjoy the long-term benefits, which come from that certainty and stability.
At this stage, the staff at Ample property solutions cannot think of a better local investment area for our Sydney clients.
So why not give us a call at Ample Property Solutions to see how we can help you invest in this fantastic area.