As house prices across the region continue to skyrocket the latest figures, once again, show the biggest increase in property values across the Central West has come from a smaller centre than one might expect.
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Orange is still the most-expensive place to buy in terms of median house price, but in terms of values increasing, the new Domain House Price Report reveals Parkes to be the biggest mover of 2020.
December quarter figures show the median price of a house in Parkes has reached $335,000, marking an increase of almost 24.1 per cent across the 12 months prior and almost 10 per cent across the previous quarter alone.
The latter increase wasn't a one-off either, Parkes experienced the biggest rise in the September quarter too.
The yearly trend was observed across the region as markets everywhere rose at an average rate of approximately 11 per cent from December to December, continuing their rapid growth across the last five years.
Since the final quarter of 2015, cities and towns across the Central West have experienced incredible value increases from anywhere between 12 to 45 per cent.
Outside Parkes' big upward turn, December quarter numbers were positive across the region too with only Forbes and the Dubbo LGA experiencing slight drops from the previous period, of 2.6 and 2.2 per cent respectively.
For perspective, the Domain House Price Report showed only slight increases across the rest of the region, with Orange (5.5 per cent), the Mid-Western LGA (4.4 per cent) and Bathurst (3.7 per cent) recording the biggest rises.
"The longer-term numbers are obviously a far better indicator of markets because it's hard to judge on a single quarter alone," Real Estate Institute of NSW Orana division chairman Adam Wells said.
"There's a lot of factors that could come into a slight drop in a single quarter (in Forbes and Dubbo LGA), what sold during that period would have a big impact and you have to consider that we were coming into Christmas and the new year in that period too.
"A slight drop certainly wouldn't align with what were seeing on the ground in Dubbo, it's a good time to be here at the moment.
"We're getting a lot of calls from people from Sydney, or Wollongong, who are moving to the area so it's good to see people are seeing the opportunities that are out here and that's good for the entire region.
"In general what we're seeing is there's more demand than stock right now and I think that's true of the entire area."
McCormack Barber Real Estate director Peter McCormack, from Orange, said the same, as did Raine and Horne Bathurst director Grant Masking-Dowton.
"Every section of the market is firing at the same time... we're getting about five offers on every house we're selling at the moment," Mr McCormack said.
"We're getting a lot of offers on homes as well, at times several on the spot at open houses as well," Mr Masking-Dowton added.
"The lack of stock does drive prices up but that's also affected by outside investment too and we are seeing a lot of interest there, but there's also a lot of locals trying to get into the market or re-enter the market as well.
"One thing I've really noticed is the level of immediate buyers we get interest from, people who are looking at buying a home very quickly."
Bathurst's market growth has been far steadier than some other areas of the region, which Mr Masking-Dowton puts down as a positive.
"Bathurst tends to have about three per cent growth annually, it tends to be quite steady and we've seen that again. It can almost be a safeguard in a way because, you know, what's up probably must come down at some stage."
Numbers show average house prices in Orange are easily the highest at $495,000 compared to the Mid-Western LGA ($470,000), Bathurst ($466,500), Dubbo LGA ($367,000), Lithgow ($355,000), Parkes ($335,000), Forbes ($321,000) and Cowra ($282,000).
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