‘Highly beautiful’: NSW sea change towns where house prices doubled

While house prices don’t always double every 10 years, in some NSW regional areas, property values have more than doubled over the past decade.

Houses in the Byron Shire rose 2.6 times and houses in Kiama local government area rose 2.4 times over the 10 years to June, Domain figures show.

Byron Bay house prices have more than doubled in a decade.Credit: Danielle Smith

Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell said Byron and Kiama are the two most expensive regional local government areas in Australia. Their median values are now $1.48 million in Byron and $1.45 million in Kiama.

“These prices are well above most other capital cities, bar Sydney. These are regional markets, but they are premium,” she said.

Powell noted that it would be a struggle for first-home buyers on an average local wage to afford a house in these areas.

“In markets like these, where you’ve got out-of-towners coming in, and that’s what we saw during the pandemic, is you’ve got people who are relocating from much higher priced markets such as Sydney … They had deeper pockets.”

This resulted in locals being priced out and relocating to neighbouring locations.

“Neighbouring areas like Ballina are seen as that kind of poorer cousin of Byron because they are much cheaper,” she said.

In the past decade Ballina house prices went up by 114 per cent to a median $982,500.

PRD’s chief economist Dr Diaswati Mardiasmo said there are several reasons house prices more than doubled for some regional markets.

Kiama property prices have soared.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Mardiasmo said it is not a coincidence that Kiama has proximity to Sydney, and Byron Bay to the Gold Coast.

“They’re quite easy places to get to … they’re quite easily serviced by transport.”

Mardiasmo said Byron Bay has benefited from international and national exposure from celebrities who live and holiday there, as well as its own Netflix series, Byron Baes.

She also said as many international Hollywood films were produced on the Gold Coast, stars and crew travelled to Byron for holidays.

Mardiasmo said recognition is important in bringing up the value of an area.

“Before COVID not many people might have known about, say, Tamworth or Newcastle, or Wagga, Wagga, or Goulburn or Orange.”

She added that the state government in NSW has also spent a lot of money upgrading infrastructure in regional areas.

“Technically from a geographical perspective and from a category perspective, you’re in a regional area, [but] you don’t always feel that you’re in a regional area,” she said.

Andy Wharton from First National Coast & Country said Kiama’s location within two hours of Sydney made it a simple choice for people.

“There’s been an improvement in transport links, so access to Sydney has been so much easier over the last 10 years,” he said.

Wharton said people were drawn to the beauty of the environment and the community.

“It’s [got] a natural coastline, basalt features and the beaches; multiple surf beaches in the 2533 postcode,” he said.

“It’s highly beautiful, and the climate’s pretty good. I mean, you’re on the coast, and average temperatures might be in summer 28 or 30 degrees. In winter, it may go as low as 6 degrees. So it’s not especially cold, and it’s certainly not extremely hot.

“There was a lot of demand to move to a place where there was very little industry and a good, safe place to raise families.”

Will Phillips from Sotheby’s International Realty said Byron Bay has an ideal combination of lifestyle factors that make the area desirable for elite buyers investing in the area.

“Beautiful beaches matched with one of the best climates in the world … and first class food and produce. Some of the locally grown food and produce is some of the best in the world, and all of that within a 20- to 25-minute drive to an … airport,” he said.

Phillips also emphasised the relaxed energy that draws people to the region.

“The locals may use the word ‘energy’, but for someone coming here, they would probably say the pace. They just feel better when they’re here. You know, it’s relaxed. People are really friendly, [they] aren’t in a rush.”

Phillips said prices in the area have come down since the demand from the pandemic waned.

“And now what we’re seeing is, because of the value shift, people are starting to feel like it’s very good value again,” he said.

Phillips believes that the demand for Byron was always destined to grow, and the pandemic simply “multiplied that exponentially”.

“It just fast-tracked the sentiment towards the area.”