Not just the trees anymore!!!

Property Report from the Country:

It’s not just about the trees

“Sydney may be in the middle of its steepest property downturn in decades, but new figures show surrounding markets are holding their own — with some areas even seeing prices grow” Kate Burke, Domain.

‘Tree change’ an adaption of ‘sea change’ is a common phrase used to describe a city dwellers decision to move from the ‘hussle and bussle’ of the cities to the quite open space of the country for ‘a quieter life.’ Now this is all well and good and by all means please continue to come for that reason, but let’s not sell ‘the bush’ short. As a real estate agent of 10 years with a growing business in real estate sales and property management across Boorowa, Harden and Cootamundra in the South West Slopes, I can tell you that people are moving to these areas for more than just the trees and open space.

They are coming for the busy and full of life communities, for the ever-improving services and communication and accessibility, for affordable houses for rent and sale, they are coming for opportunity and the growing regional centres and the people and for the steady increase of house prices and for the investment and for the high rental returns.

We have a property manager working in our office who’s name is Annastasia. She comes from Canberra. 1 year ago, with her husband and daughter, she made the move to Boorowa for a lifestyle change, but not because she wanted to slow down. Annastasia cited things like affordability and accessibility to Canberra and the attraction of a smaller community as the main factors that influenced her decision. “I was able to commute to Canberra for work which I didn’t mind and at the same time enjoy more affordable rent and the country atmosphere.” Annastasia now works for us and has recently bought a 3-bedroom home on a corner block that she intends to subdivide and sell off part of it. “I have a good job, we can afford to buy a home and we live in a nice community, it’s perfect.”

Now if you would rather focus less on the emotion and more on the hard evidence let’s consider these facts…

• Average return on investment currently (according to Core Logic) in Cootamundra is 6.7% compared to Stanmore in the inner west of Sydney which is currently returning an average of 2.7%.
• In the last 12 months (again according to Core Logic) prices in Lane Cove in Sydney fell by an average of 10.9% in 2018 in Harden average prices increased by 7.4%.
• In 2018 average prices in Stanmore fell by 9.9%, Cootamundra increased by 6.3%

Michael Yardley is one of Australians leading commentators on the property market. In a recent article (Jan 2019) he reported that “values across the combined capitals are down a larger 6.7% since peaking, while regional dwelling values have been more resilient to falls, down by 1.5%.”

The property market ‘crash’ that economists and property market reporters have been reporting on in Sydney is not what we are experiencing out here in Country areas. We don’t experience the high, highs so nor do we expect to have to cop the low, lows. Instead, we get a steady increase in house prices and rental yields which we may find becomes sharper as demand in regional areas gets stronger.

Whilst the banking royal commission has had an impact on lending streams and therefore the number of active buyers in the market, the impact has been less severe in regional areas. Such as ours.

“We’re seeing higher-priced markets are impacted more by the credit changes, because it’s all about addressing debt-to-income ratios,” Domain senior research analyst Nicola Powell said.

William Penn Adair said that the secret to real estate investment was to “find out where the people are going and buy the land before they get there”. The ‘people’ are coming out here. People are moving here, investing here, expanding their existing businesses and opening new ones. I think more and more people are going to come out here to regional areas, as much for the trees and open space as for the opportunities and communities. Time will prove me wrong or right. I think right.

Justin Fleming

Director

Flemings Property Services