THE TWEED housing market continues to grow with the highest sales activity in regional Australia according to the latest market report released by CoreLogic.
The CoreLogic Quarterly Regional Market Report for June 2016 analyses the housing market performance of some of the largest regional areas including: Newcastle and Lake Macquarie (NSW), Illawarra (NSW), Richmond-Tweed (NSW), Geelong (Vic), Latrobe-Gippsland (Vic), Gold Coast (Qld), Sunshine Coast (Qld), Townsville (Qld), Wide Bay (Qld), Cairns (Qld) and Bunbury (WA).
CoreLogic observations have confirmed that most major regional areas are now seeing an increase in home values, demand for housing in the regions is picking up in the Richmond-Tweed region.
Over the year to May 2016 there were 5,766 properties sold, which is 2 per cent higher than one year ago and 19 per cent above the five year average for the region.
Since 2014, the number of residential homes selling across the region has been trending upwards, while across all other regional markets analysed, sales activity was lower. The number of sales are still well below the peak seen in 2002, when over the 12 months ending May 8,398 properties were sold.
Home values across the region have risen over the past year, with both houses and units increasing their median value by 8.4 per cent to $482,674 and $367,571 respectively.
Across the rental market, rental rates for both houses (+4.8 per cent) and units (+5.6 per cent) have risen over the year. The rise in rents have not increased at the same rate as home values and thus rental yields have fallen slightly. The median rent across the region is $440 for houses and $380 for units.
To the north Queensland’s two major lifestyle markets of the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast were the strongest performing regions across the state over the period, with both house and unit values rising. Transaction activity, however, was mixed, with sales volumes across the Gold Coast remaining steady over the year, but well above the five year average and Sunshine Coast volumes falling over the 12 month period. Townsville, Wide Bay and Cairns were weaker performers over the year with median values remaining relatively flat, or falling.
CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher said, “Our latest data points to an increase of value growth in regional markets, particularly those which are located adjacent to capital cities. As people are priced out of certain capital cities, buyers now appear to be looking to these adjacent regions.”
“Home owners in Sydney and Melbourne have seen a substantial rise in housing equity over recent years. Subsequently we are seeing some evidence that these buyers are starting to look for holiday and investment properties in certain regional markets which is also providing an impetus for some of the value growth we are currently seeing.”