NSW Newcastle and Central Coast area

Hi all,
I’m looking at purchasing my very first investment property (has to be a house). I’m in the very early stages of my research and was just looking for some suburb recommendations in the Newcastle or Central Coast region that fit the following parameters:

Maximum price $500,000
Minimum amount of bedrooms 3
Vacancy rate must be under 3%
Yield must be a minimum of 4%
Some capital growth in the next 10 years.
Area where there may be new infrastructure being built.

Any input is appreciated.

Cheers!

 

Newcastle 2019 [NSW]

Should get you started.

 

I’m from the Central Coast and I think you will struggle to get anything free standing under 500k.
Suburb to watch might be Wyoming - close to Sydney, close to the rapidly gentrifying Gosford CBD. Locals think it’s a long way from everything because it’s 22 minute drive to the beach. Some public housing. I think lots of young families are moving there for affordability.
But even there it is the rare and run down place that sells under 500

for that price you are looking at units and townhouses.
Gosford is on the up but a lot of units are being built.
A townhouse in Gosford could be worth a look. Disclosure - I have one of these, but it’s not for sale

keep an eye on Bateau Bay, which was similar to Wyoming in price but a lot closer to the beach and further from Sydney. But prices there have jumped a lot. Still the odd place sells for around 500.

anywhere north of bateau is possibly going to be your price range depending on the place and suburb, but it’s out of my watch zone so can’t help

 

Take a look at this property on www.domain.com.au:

Lakeside Locale - Perfect Starter
6 Cranbrook Crescent, Killarney Vale

6 Cranbrook Crescent, Killarney Vale NSW 2261 - House For Sale | Domain

I’d be looking at Killarney vale. 5km from beach. Great spot and drastically cheaper than bateau bay, long jetty, Shelley beach. Beware of flood zone near lake.

 

I live on the Central Coast and own 3 properties in the area.

I would tend to look as close to Gosford as possible. From there people can catch fast trains. The city centre is gentrifying with new jobs (ATO). Massive extension to Gosford hospital.
Gosford and the rest of the Central Coast I believe will benefit from the M1 to M2 extension, it is much more commutable to Sydney than Newcastle.

 

Gosford is a hole. People have been tipping it to do well for years. If you’re buying with the intention of possibly living in it down the track stick 5kms from beach. Wyoming is average is well. If avoid all suburbs starting with W - woy woy, wyong, Wyoming!

 

Sounds like what people were saying 5 years ago.
Since then things have changed. There’s always been plans and rumours of plans. The change is that cranes have actually appeared on the skyline. More than 10 this year.
Even the hole in the ground on Henry Parry Drive, empty for as long as I can remember, has work commencing on it this very week.
A 3 bedroom unit sold on Mann St this month for $1.6 million. That’s gotta be a suburb record.

I’ve documented more changes in Gosford here
GOSFORD - the investment thesis [NSW]

 

The real challenge for the OP is his max spend.
Having said that a townhouse in Gosford can be had for $450k and ours rents for $370 per week. That’s 4.2% yield before strata and rates.

As for infrastructure in Gosford, read up on:
- the new water park they are building on the water front
- the redevelopment of the leagues club next to that water park
- University of Newcastle’s plan for a Gosford campus
- State govt building wifi and better 4G on the train lines.

The commute from Gosford station to Central station is 1 hr 20 mins. One mate of mine drives to a Sydney school where he teaches, and his commute is shorter than many of his colleages coming from Sydney. Pretty hard to justify paying Sydney prices when for half the price in Gosford you can have a shorter commute and live 15-20 minutes from the beach.

Talk of high speed rail into the city seems a bit pie in the sky to me, but on the other hand with Sydney bursting at the seams the government is going to have to do *something*. Making regional centres closer to the city for commuters by high speed rail might be one option they pursue, especially if there is any stimulus spending to be put towards new infrastructure projects.
All I can say is, the Sydney property prices are driving people north and Gosford is where a lot are landing

 

Might be some development going on but still a **** place to live when you compare to the beach suburbs on the coast.

 

Everything is worse compared to something better. But with houses close to the beach going for well over $1 million, it’s not an option for a lot of people.
We lived in Gosford for the last 5 years. It’s a lovely place to live. You can walk everywhere. On a Saturday morning we would walk to South End Social for breakfast, then walk down to the pool for a swim. The kids would play in the newly refurbished Lion’s Park and we’d walk home. The new Bays Road Brewery was a walk away if we wanted to go out in the afternoon, or the new Bon Pavillion restaurant for something fancy. I’d walk to the station to commute and we’d walk to do our shopping at Woolworths. The library had stuff for the little kids and The Good Bits cafe was right next to it to meet people.

not many places on the central coast where you don’t need a car to do all that.