As Australia’s most populous state, home to the country’s largest city and leading financial centre, New South Wales is likely to remain influenced by the current state of the global economy and its struggles.
The Harbour City
For this reason, analysts foresee the performance of property in Sydney being uninspiring in the year ahead, excepting a few pockets of growth. “In general terms we see Sydney as a relatively flat market in the foreseeable future, but western Sydney has more pressure on its housing markets than more expensive parts of the urban conglomerate,” says property researcher Andrew Peterson.
Meanwhile, RP Data’s research director Tim Lawless believes that affordability will play a major role in what buyers choose to purchase in Sydney and that with very high prices on inner city houses, units remain a great opportunity. “I think the inner Sydney unit market offers a great deal of potential. Demand for inner city living is particularly strong in Sydney due to the centralisation of the inner city labour market as well as the transport difficulty associated with many locations a long way from the CBD,” Lawless says.
Regional NSW
Ranking highly in the Top 100 were also NSW regional areas which, thanks to major investments in the coal mining sector, should see growth. Newcastle suburbs Cameron Park, Edgeworth and Cooks Hill are strong prospects, while further into the Hunter region Muswellbrook is likely to be another strong performer. Heading out west, Dubbo will also benefit from resource related investment and property prices look poised for growth.
