How many times have we heard our grandparents say ‘values just aren’t the same these days’?

We can’t really comment on other people’s values, but we can on property values, and over the past 20 years, it’s been good news for investors; nationally property has increased by over 230 percent* and nearly 170 per cent across the whole of regional Australia.

If it’s broken down further, Melbourne has the greatest increase (335 per cent) over the past 20 years while the most moderate increase has been recorded in Regional WA where values are just 85 per cent higher.

Regional NSW

Apart from the five years to January 2013, (which included the GFC and an additional period of decline between 2010 and 2012 as the GFC stimulus was removed from the market), house values continued to rise.

• Five years to January 2003: 84.1%
• Five years to January 2008: 26.9%
• Five years to January 2013: -1.1%
• Five years to January 2018: 37.9%

The Newcastle region

When looking at the Australian Housing Outlook 2017–2020, prepared by BIS Shrapnel for QBE, the Newcastle region experienced solid price growth in the five years to June 2017, averaging 7 per cent per annum, which is slightly more than the average for regional NSW.

The report also points out the market remains tight with vacancy rates well below the 3 per cent market balanced rate. (Our vacancy rates have always been around 1 per cent below the average vacancy rate, mainly due to our active team and intense, expert marketing. We use quality photos, well-written descriptions and marketing on over 15 websites to make sure our properties get seen by the right potential tenants.)

It highlights the redevelopment of the Newcastle Interchange as well as the light rail line, which will encourage job creation and further investment in the area, and the outlook for the Hunter region economy also remains positive.

The price momentum is predicted to carry into 2018, with house prices projected to grow 7 per cent. The median house price at June 2017 was $568,700, and this is forecast to increase a cumulative 12 per cent to $635,000 at June 2020.

All this is good news for investors looking for capital growth over the next couple of years.

It should be noted, some people do lose on property. However, in our experience the losses depended on when and where people had bought, and sometimes, when they sold. For instance, something unexpected arose and they had to sell too soon or had to sell quickly.

The general consensus is, property is still a great way to invest – we’ve been in business in the area for over 40 years, so property must still be doing well!

If you’re keen to learn more about property investment, how it works and what to look out for, get in touch with our team. We are one of Newcastle’s longest established real estate offices and we would love to share our knowledge with you.

Give us a call on 02 4954 8833, send us an email to mail@andriessenproperty.com.au or pop into our Cardiff office for a chat.

* Figures taken from CoreLogic