NEW SOUTH WALES

STANDOUT LOCATION Canterbury-Bankstown

In the summer edition of the Price Predictor Index, Hotspotting ranked the Canterbury-Bankstown LGA as ‘the national growth star’, the strongest municipality in Australia for real estate performance. Among the leading suburbs are Bass Hill (median house price $1.1 million) and Condell Park (median price $1.2 million for houses and $785,000 for units).

2023 REVIEWED City of Wollongong

We singled out Wollongong last year because buyers were seeking an affordable lifestyle close to the capital city and Wollongong ticked many boxes. It ended 2023 as the strongest rising market in regional NSW and many suburbs recorded good price growth, headed by Figtree (up 18%) and Mangerton (up 14%).

Sydney began 2024 as one of the nation’s leading growth markets. In 2023, it recovered from the 2022 downturn, with sales activity growing stronger as the year evolved, which translated into 12% price rises for houses and 8% for apartments, according to CoreLogic.

Hotspotting’s analysis in the summer 2023-24 edition of the Price Predictor Index finds that 84% of Sydney suburbs have positive trends with sales activity, a forward indicator of price growth. There are rising markets right across the Greater Sydney area, from the CBD and inner west to Penrith and Liverpool.

Inner-city precincts dominated because apartments have rising demand, with buyers motivated by location, lifestyle and affordability relative to houses in the same area (apartments are often less than half the price).

Middle market areas also stand out, notably the municipalities of Canterbury-Bankstown, Parramatta, Georges River and Ryde.

Heading west there are markets with growing momentum in the Blacktown, Liverpool and Penrith regions.

Regional NSW also experienced a revival in 2023, though not as emphatically as Sydney, with some of the iconic sea change locations still in the doldrums, notably Byron Bay and the Central Coast.

Byron Bay, in particular, overshot realistic value in the Covid boom and its median house price has dropped 20% in the past year.

The strongest regional market is Wollongong (see left) and its near neighbours Shoalhaven and Shellharbour, while Newcastle is also well into a revival phase.

Smaller regional cities with renewed energy include Orange, Ballina, Goulburn, Tweed Heads, Port Macquarie and Nowra.