NSW property cycle @ newcastle, central coast, regional nsw

Small block, too pretty for an IP, if you made that a 3 bedder you would have hardly any living space.

 

House and 800sqm block of land in North Lambton sold for 702k today. Houses needed work.

 

Good size!

 

I've been going up to the central coast for close to 40'years . My parents lived there for a while and we've had some very good friends live there ( they now live in the block next to blues point tower ..... )

We looked buying a weekender there three years ago , but ended up buying in north arm cove which is on the north side of port Stephens .

When Sydney goes up o peaks , people sell and move up the coast , so the market can still move for a while

When the market is down , the central coast is DEAD ..... And stays like that for years with prices drifting down .

We've looked around in those periods on a couple of occasions and things don't sell quickly if at all . Great place for making low ball offers .

Cliff

 

Thanks for all replies and reviving the thread.
We decided to buy here even if we may not end up staying for long since we know the area. But Newie has not slowed down yet, at the moment our offers end up having mini auctions

 

I love port Stephens. We stay up that way every Xmas holidays. We camp at one mile beach for 2-3 weeks.

 

Cliff,

How are things looking in North Arm Cove? What can you do with the blocks there these days? I've always been tempted to buy a block there to go camping and hope that they eventually change the zoning.

 

Central coast increased about 50% in this cycle, probably 10-20% behind Sydney...
maybe last round of drinks before we close? or as you suggest the more ripple effect may still coming from Sydney....
You have to ask the question is CC an alternative to Sydney, with median around the 500k mark that is similar to Sydney outer suburbs?

You are correct regards to flat/dead period. Take Woy Woy for example, we see a dead period of 6 years 2006-2012 ( it may be even longer if I had data going beyond 2006)...
Also note in 2010, WW below had small increase, while most Sydney suburbs had a 10-15% increase... so I am anticipating it will have similar pattern of differential in the 5-8 years of recovery..

WOY WOY House Median

 

You can camp on the non urban blocks for one month a year , BUT , it is incredibly unlikely you will ever be able to build on them . These are the cheap ones

There are a couple of hundred of blocks which you can or have been built on .

Our neighbours son bought a block you can build on that's about 30 m from the water for 80 k around two years ago .

This block's been for sale for at least three years . Waterfront . Not sure what they want . They might be motivated .

This ones also waterfront , 580 K but would be easier to build on that the other one . Not as steep . It looks west , but the sunsets are to die for .

If I won powerball , I'd buy this one . It's been on and off the market for a couple of years , was off for a while but now back on. It's on an acre on what I think is the best beach in the area . It's a calm water beach and there is no general public access from the land . We paddle our kayaks round to it . Beautiful sand , which you can wade out around 20 meters . Mooring buoys in the deeper water .The house has a boat house on the edge of the beach .

Once the Hexham bypass is built its will be just over 90 mins from the start of the freeway .

One acre , pristine beach front , 90 mins from Sydney . Might pick it up for around 1.5 . .....

Cliff

 

Not sure where they classify SE NSW as, but sounds a bit ambiguous.
The South Coast is a pretty large area as well, plenty of places that are on the move upwards.

 

I thought you could camp on the non urban blocks for 12 weeks. Maybe that was Pindimar. $580k for waterfront seems out of step with Port Stephens. I guess proximity to Sydney could be a factor there but I wouldn't have thought that was such a driver yet. There's a couple of non waterfront blocks around the $8k mark for about 600m2. Could be a good family camping spot when the rest of the bay is full of tourists.

 

I lived at North Arm Cove for a time, hated it, couldn't get out of there quick enough even though we had a waterfront home. Mozzies/ticks are in abundance, got Ross River Fever and wasn't able to even drive the car for six months until I recovered, after an hour in the yard my husband and I would have to pick the ticks out of each other and as for the water, my poor husband was incapable of keeping our water supply clean [tank water] and as a result we had to buy bottled water and I was not able to fill the bath in our new home because the water was green and yuck! and have you ever been inside a concrete tank to clean it , did it once and never again.

No shops, no amenities could go on and on - but you get the picture

 

That is what bothers me about these places. I grew up on acres on the outskirts of Sydney, same deal, everything is 20-30 minutes away. Would never live like that again. Where I live now i can dart up to the shops for a kebab or box of cornettos in 1 minute!

How you going to beat that?

 

Dinner and desert

 

I bought a single Cornetto for $2 yesterday - at a tourist place too!
Small things...

 

Yep 580 seems steep to me ( it's still for sale ...) , but I haven't been watching the local market that closely . I still like the acre on the waterfront .

It's a weekender for us , so not concerned about shops etc , though Karuah's under 10 mins and Tea Gardens is around 15 . The Rock servo is around 5 mins .

We're on the port side, not in the cove and the insects are meant to be worse in the Cove .

Over three years , two dogs , in the Garden every second weekend . Not one tic .

We're on tank water and haven't had a problem .

We bought there for the peace and quiet and didn't want to buy in Suburbia on the water so it suits us perfectly . We live in Sydney so it's a nice change . Wallabies in the front street , dolphins and turtles in the back yard

Must be luck

Cliff

 

Sounds perfect.

 

For us it is

Cliff

 

Sounds like an average day at work to me

 

Woy Woy (blue line in the chart below) looks to be under-performing for the last 2-3 years BUT may come good in the next 12 months or so. (CC peak lags SYD peak by 12 months historically).