Newcastle Property Market Update September 2019

Whilst pondering this month’s topic about population movements in our respective valuation regions, a news article came across this particular desk speculating on the expected population growth of Newcastle by 2056 as determined by the Regional Population Growth: Are We Ready? This report was completed by the University of South Australia and Southern Cross University so you know it’s going to have the stats and the best buzzwords such as “dispersed regional growth” and “future population settlement patterns”, but interestingly, the article spoke of Newcastle being conveniently located within close proximity to catch the regional growth overflow from Sydney. The article goes on to explain that large capital cities such as Sydney will become more congested in the future, with even more unaffordable living and housing conditions. As a result people generally start looking at other options away from these highly populated cities.

There’s no need to wait for the year 2056 – we have already been seeing many new residents moving to our region in search of the easier lifestyle, more affordable housing and much less time sitting in traffic. There are numerous new Novocastrian residents who have moved from Sydney and we can quote them by saying they aren’t ever leaving our region.

So with this new increase of residents to the area – where are the current residents moving to? We’ve seen much movement around Lake Macquarie with many older residents selling up and moving on to new adventures. Some are buying smaller properties in the same suburbs, others are moving closer to family and some are even buying into the new retirement villages in the area with all the modcons nearby for convenience.

On a recent valuation inspection, we came across the most delightful retired couple. They were selling out and moving north to enjoy the years to come. Their property had sold fairly quickly and they were packed and ready to move to Tea Gardens (only 50 minutes north of Newcastle).

In this area of Tea Gardens, the predominant age group is 70 to 79 years and the current median house price is $620,000. The close-by neighbouring suburb of Hawks Nest has enticed the younger, slightly more rowdy crowd, with the predominant age group at 60 to 69 years and the current median house price is $560,000.

A four-bedroom, two-bathroom and two-car garage house in Tea Gardens sold for $555,000 on June 2019. This property is modern, easy to look after, is within a close distance of the local shopping centre plus there’s plenty of great fishing locations nearby.

The suburbs surrounding Lake Macquarie are much sought after by Sydneysiders. One interesting factor we’ve uncovered recently is that many of these Lake Macquarie properties are selling to Sydney investors who are utilising these properties as weekenders.

Overall, with the new infrastructure developments recently seen in Newcastle including the new Transport Interchange, the shiny new trams cruising up Hunter Street, upgrades to Newcastle Airport to include direct flights to New Zealand as well as plenty of new apartment developments, we can confidently say that Newcastle is well-positioned for the future.

Speak with a Newcastle Mortgage Broker today.