House prices surge in Eurobodalla: Domain report

Eurobodalla, Canberra’s favourite seaside holiday spot, has experienced a surge in house prices, according to the latest Domain Group data.

The Domain State of the Market Report, released on Thursday, shows a 13.4 per cent year-on-year increase in the region’s house prices.

Eurobodalla’s median house price is now $445,000, about $100,000 more than the June 2012 median of $344,000.

Domain chief economist Andrew Wilson said a “prosperity effect” caused by the strong Canberra and Sydney markets may have helped drive prices up.

“There’s no doubt that coastal markets south of Sydney have picked up over the last 12 months,” Dr Wilson said.

Shellharbour and Shoalhaven were among NSW’s top performers in the year to June 2017, recording a year-on-year increase of 17.3 and 17.8 per cent, respectively.

“Given that prices are now rising faster in Canberra than they are in Sydney I think that there’s an upside for that wealth effect to transfer its way across to second homes, holiday homes and retirees coming from the west, rather than the north,” Dr Wilson said.

First National Batemans Bay agent Pat Jameson said the South Coast market has tightened over the past 18 months, partly due to an influx of Sydney buyers.

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Ms Jameson said the past decade has experienced a reasonably static 1000 property listings across greater Batemans Bay’s 2536 postcode at any one time.

That number has dwindled to about 450 listings and half of those are blocks of land.

She said it’s not just holiday-makers who are looking to the South Coast.

“Permanent residences make up around 65 per cent of the market, about 15 per cent are investors and the rest are holiday homes,” Ms Jameson said.

Ms Jameson said booming capital city property prices were encouraging more buyers to make a permanent move to the region.

“There’s not a lot of employment but people can sell so well and buy comfortably here,” she said.

Prices have made early retirement possible for some newcomers, while others are choosing to work remotely.

For Jon and Portia Dunn, who have lived in the Batemans Bay area for 38 years, the market has presented the perfect opportunity to sell and build a new home.

They’ve enjoyed living at their home by the golf course in Catalina, but are upsizing to a newly built house on a 5000-square-metre block in Batehaven.

“We’ve seen a lot of change over the years,” Mr Dunn said.

“More housing is bringing more people and more amenity, and being a builder and developer it’s very good for business.”