This month, NextHotSpot.com.au has contributed the market report for NEW SOUTH WALES
Sydney property is showing a return to confidence across the board – western Sydney still offers the best long-term investment opportunities and there has been even more activity at the top end of the market. Newcastle and the Lower Hunter remain the strongest capture point for investment, with growth continuing along the corridor to the state’s emerging new centre of resources activity in the Gunnedah Basin.
Things are looking more positive for property in the nation’s most populated state in 2013. Consumer confidence seems to be returning and property pricing is picking up, with the Sydney basin recently hitting record high median pricing at $656k. Auction clearance rates have remained steadily above 60% for some months – the level generally seen to be reflecting a ‘balanced’ market. In other words, for the first time in a couple of years, conditions are slightly in favour of sellers, not buyers. We expect the greatest growth to be in western Sydney, with signi cant new employment hubs in places like Minchinbury and Hoxton Park.
Several regional centres continue to promise stronger growth than most parts of Sydney. Newcastle and the Hunter service one of the industries in NSW that is definitely growing – thermal coal production – and, like it or not, the reality is that the coal seam gas to liquefied natural gas (CSG-LNG) industry is on its way. Towns like Gunnedah and Narrabri look set to benefit from this process. Remember that the smaller the town the more patchy the growth tends to be.
All the ‘Evocities’ (Armidale, Tamworth, Bathurst, Orange, Dubbo, Wagga and Albury) have a good story, and both state and federal governments are pursuing decentralisation policies.
