Newcastle December 2017

The month in review: Newcastle

By Herron Todd White
December 2017

The wider Newcastle market has performed exceedingly well over the past 12 months. By wider we can include north as far as Tea Gardens and Buladelah, west as far as Jerry’s Plains and south as low as Doyalson and Morisset. We can let others tell the tale of locations outside these areas.

In these locations not everything moved at the same speed. As an example, Singleton and surrounds are coming off a low base with limited activity for the past few years. Agents are now reporting more activity across the board. This is not yet translating to significant capital growth but sales numbers are picking up. Signs are promising.

In and around Newcastle, signs are more than promising. The market has been on a large upswing for a lengthy time period. A number of localities have seen record sales occurring in suburbs right across town. Suburbs that once could only dream of $1 million sales seem to have a record sale occurring every other week. As an example, Stockton in September had the first $2 million transaction in its history, smashing past the old record by a margin. The story is similar in Broadmeadow which recently pushed the $1 million mark for the first time with a sale at around $1.25 million – not just sneaking past but absolutely powering past and moving away.

Nelson Bay has likewise been a strong performer this year. Oceanside Fingal Bay in particular has seen significant growth and interest. This is likely to be because of the ocean aspect and views instead of the standard port vista enjoyed by the majority of the suburbs in this locality; it just offers a little something different. That by no means denigrates the rest of the bay. Activity has been strong for a period and many purchasers are out-of-towners. It will be interesting to see how the market tracks into the new year on the back of a reported slowdown in the Sydney markets.

All indicators in January this year were that the market was going in the right direction and it has transpired thus over the year. With a shaky political system and plenty of rhetoric over peaking markets, it remains to be seen how the market will cope after Christmas.