NSW Looking to buy investment in greater Hunter with view to live

My partner and I are 2 FHBs (and new investors), and Sydney has become out of the question for us to buy. The goal is to buy an investment property in the Hunter region that we could rent out as we transition our work out of Sydney over the next couple of years, while we rent in Sydney.

At this point we could either knockdown and rebuild or live in this property whilst buying land and building. Or even continue to rent this property out if circumstances align.

Ideally, we are looking for something that could have incoming rent as consistently as possible. I suppose vacancy rate of a particular suburb would be the best metric to look at? Any advice would be very appreciated.

 

Hi,

Where in the Hunter Valley were you thinking of buying?
I’m new to investing so hopefully some other more experienced investors can provide some input, but I have lived in the Hunter Valley for almost 20 years and have been keeping a close eye on prices the past 3 years.
At the moment we live near Maitland and we have just sold our first home and are about to move to nearby acerage.
This is what I’m noticing:
- Anything on the Newcastle side of Maitland (eg East Maitland, Ashtonfield, Thornton etc) is rapidly rising after being stagnant for 10+ years. Contributing factors may include people being priced out of Newcastle and Newcastle families wanting more space/less costs with a relatively short commute (under 30 mins).
- Currently there is a lot more people looking for land out here than what is available, even though the past 10 years there has been a rapid increase in new estates. I just don’t see developers releasing enough land to meet demand. Not sure if that is because they don’t have much left to release or are holding out.
- Acerage properties are in hot demand. I saw one on around 3-4 acres sell for $400k more than just a few months prior with no updates to the property.
- Inner Maitland suburbs are rising but not sure if people are forgetting that the area is flood zone.
- Houses in cheaper suburbs on the Newcastle side of Maitland eg, Woodberry, Metford are being snapped up as soon as they hit the market. I imagine by investors.
- Houses near the expressway eg Heddon Greta have also risen but there’s not much out there.
- Steer clear of Raymond Terrace

that’s all I can think of for now