Sydneysiders love this Central West town – and they’re prepared to pay
2 min
The house might not be much to look at, but the property in this popular NSW Central West town has everything treechangers are chasing – and they’re prepared to pay top dollar for it.
On offer for the first time in 100 years, ‘Womera’ and ‘Springville’ in Orange, sold for $11.4 million last week – $1.4 million above the reserve.
With 966ha to work with, ‘Womera’ enjoys a reliable 710mm annual rainfall and boasts rich volcanic basalt soils. As well as the four-bedroom brick home, there’s the old manager’s cottage, a bore, five stand shearing shed, two machinery sheds, five silos, steel cattle yards, sheep yards, grain storage shed, 24 paddocks and a double frontage to Weandre Creek.
Next door, ‘Springville’ offers a further 450ha with five paddocks, steel cattle or sheep yards, a shearing shed, machinery shed and Nubrygyn Creek frontage, as well as building entitlement.
While three buyers registered – two locals and another from WA – the eventual buyer was a neighbour from the Euchareena District.
While larger properties such as these are still the outliers in terms of price, Orange has experienced a 30 percent rise in prices for houses in the past 12 months.
McGrath Real Estate Orange and Molong principal Scott Petersen said COVID had accelerated interest in the area, which is about 250km west of Sydney, as more people embraced remote working.
“Orange is an easy drive from Sydney – between three and 3.5 hours or a 40-minute flight – and we get four very distinct seasons here in Orange – Sydneysiders appreciate that,” Mr Petersen said. “Sydney people also love what this region offers – the food, wine and events, the employment from the mining sector, good schools.”
The events calendar is a major drawcard for food and wine lovers, with more than 60 wineries in the region.
Emptynesters and retirees are also drawn by the reliable health services in the region.
“We have the best hospital this side of the Blue Mountains,” he said. “It has all the specialists and a really good oncology unit. The hospital is a very important factor for retirees coming to Orange.”
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Ray White’s chief economist outlines her predictions for housing market trends in 2024
2 min
Ray White’s chief economist, Nerida Conisbee says property price growth will continue next year and mortgage holders will need to “survive until 2025” amid expectations of higher interest rates for longer.
Ms Conisbee said strong population growth and a housing supply shortage combatted the impact of rising interest rates in 2023, leading to unusually strong price growth during a rate hiking cycle. The latest CoreLogic data shows home values have increased by more than 10 percent in the year to date in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Among the regional markets, price growth has been strongest in regional South Australia with 8.6 percent growth and regional Queensland at 6.9 percent growth.
“As interest rates head close to peak, it is expected that price growth will continue. At this point, housing supply remains extremely low and many people that would be new home buyers are being pushed into the established market,” Ms Conisbee said. “Big jumps in rents are pushing more first home buyers into the market and population growth is continuing to be strong.”
Ms Conisbee said interest rates will be higher for longer due to sticky inflation. “… we are unlikely to see a rate cut until late 2024 or early 2025. This means mortgage holders need to survive until 2025, paying far more on their home loans than they did two years ago.”
Buyers in coastal areas currently have a window of opportunity to take advantage of softer prices, Ms Conisbee said. “Look out for beach house bargains over summer but you need to move quick. In many beachside holiday destinations, we saw a sharp rise in properties for sale and a corresponding fall in prices. This was driven by many pandemic driven holiday home purchases coming back on to the market.”
3 key housing market trends for 2024
Here are three of Ms Conisbee’s predictions for the key housing market trends of 2024.
Luxury apartment market to soar
Ms Conisbee said the types of apartments being built have changed dramatically amid more people choosing to live in apartments longer-term and Australia’s ageing population downsizing. “Demand is increasing for much larger, higher quality, more expensive developments. This has resulted in the most expensive apartments in Australia seeing price increases more than double those of an average priced apartment. This year, fewer apartments being built, growing population and a desire to live in some of Australia’s most sought-after inner urban areas will lead to a boom in luxury apartment demand.”
Homes to become even greener
The rising costs of energy and the health impacts of heat are two new factors driving interest in green homes, Ms Conisbee said. “Having a greener home utilising solar and batteries makes it cheaper to run air conditioning, heaters and pool pumps. We are heading into a particularly hot summer and having homes that are difficult to cool down makes them far more dangerous for the elderly and very young.”
More people living alone
For some time now, long-term social changes such as delayed marriage and an ageing population have led to more people living alone. However, Ms Conisbee points out that the pandemic also showed that many people prefer to live alone for lifestyle reasons. “Shorter term, the pandemic has shown that given the chance, many people prefer to live alone with a record increase in single-person households during the time. This trend may influence housing preferences, with a potential rise in demand for smaller dwellings and properties catering to individuals rather than traditional family units.”
Consumers are going to gravitate toward applications powered by the buzzy new technology, analyst Michael Wolf predicts
Chris Dixon, a partner who led the charge, says he has a ‘very long-term horizon’
