The regional towns with the strongest house price growth over 2019

It’s an area best-known around Australia for its whale-watching, but now Hervey Bay is creating another splash as the city with the highest regional property price rise in the country. 

Little Wondunna in the Fraser Coast Region, 240 kilometres north of Brisbane and 120 kilometres south of Bundaberg, had the highest house price jump of 2019 at 26 per cent to a new median of $463,250. And that’s been driven by people migrating from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and other regional areas, say locals.

“Since the election, the phone hasn’t stopped ringing with people from the southern markets wanting to sell up where they are and buy here,” says Jim McKay of PRDnationwide Hervey Bay. “Now, nearly 25 per cent of the property we’re selling is over $450,000, which probably sounds pretty cheap by Sydney and Melbourne standards.

“I think they’re coming here for the awesome weather, the quiet, the fact we never have traffic jams, the great fishing, the 10-minute ride to Fraser Island and now the facilities, like Australia’s first large-scale digital hospital and nice restaurants. Besides, we’re the place that, when you go out, you put on your best thongs!” 

Former air force missile specialist Tom Scutts is someone who couldn’t resist Wondunna’s lure. A friend moved there, and Tom and his wife Noeline, who’d lived in the same house near Newcastle in NSW for the past 48 years, followed, paying $370,000 for a four-bedroom home.

“Our friend said it was the best possible place to retire to, and he’s pretty smart!” says Tom, 81. “So we sold our place, came up in our caravan and bought this.

“We love it here now. You’re five minutes to everywhere, and everything is very easy. And you can be up in Bundaberg in an hour, or we can drive down to Gympie and go somewhere for lunch.” 

A typical home for sale on Mr McKay’s books is a brand new four-bedroom, two-bathroom house on a 1000 square metre block for sale at $459,000, just around the corner from Tom and Noeline. At 41 Bay Park Road, it has high ceilings, airconditioning, a separate lounge room at the front of the house, a study nook, outdoor entertainment areas and huge fenced backyard.

The special Domain study of regional areas over the past year shows the next biggest price jump in another state was in Gloucester, in the heart of dairy and beef country on the mid-north coast of NSW, 145 kilometres south of Newcastle, and 220 kilometres north of Sydney. 

With the median price of a home up 20 per cent over 2018-19 to a still modest $330,000, it’s also experienced an influx of property purchasers from elsewhere, often with fond memories of childhood camping holidays in the district.

“We’ve had a lot of young families coming here recently, as well as retired couples who can sell their expensive metro homes and buy here, and still have enough left over to travel or go caravanning,” says agent Olivia Harris of Ray White Rural in Gloucester. 

“People have come here before mostly on holiday and love the quiet of the area, or have family or friends here. It’s normally a lovely spot, but at the moment it’s suffering a bit from the drought with the rivers that are normally full of water running dry.”

From Gloucester, it’s only 50 kilometres to Taree, the same to the beach and an hour from Raymond Terrace.    

In Victoria, the regional area of Numurkah, 40 kilometres north of Shepparton and 220 kilometres north of Melbourne just off the Murray River, has had the most significant leap in value, at 16 per cent to a new median of $285,000. The country town is well-known for its fine Sun Country climate, its locally-made wines, handmade cheeses, cold-pressed olive oil, organic honey and almonds.

“I think a lot of people are now in search of a quieter life,” says agent Brett McKeown of Gagliardi Scott Real Estate who was born and bred in the area, later went to Brisbane but then returned with his young family after 10 years. “They realise it’s a great place to raise kids too, rather than in the big towns or cities.

“We have a lot of people coming here from Melbourne, and also Shepparton, which is close but has a much bigger population and people want somewhere less busy. We’ve got everything you need – schools, a hospital, great sporting facilities and good clubs and food.”

He’s currently selling one home below the median price, a two-bedroom cottage at 14 Pine Street for $211,500, with a paved entertaining area and just across the road from the school.

Western Australia’s Port Hedland is the area with the same 16 per cent price rise, this time to the higher median of $410,100. Domain Group economist Trent Wiltshire says, “The Port Hedland market has rebounded in 2019 in line with an improvement in mining sector conditions. 

“But it’s still well below its peak of $1.06 million, reached in 2011.”

Morag Lowe, principal of First National Hedland, says the property market bottomed out six years ago, at the end of the construction phase in the town and mining industries nearby and the slump in the price of iron ore. 

“But now our economic outlook is bullish, and there’s a lot more confidence about buying back again,” she says. “So owner-occupiers are moving back and taking advantage of the lower prices, and investors are getting a good return on their properties.”

South Australia’s best-performing regional area was Middleton, the holiday spot with a great surf beach between Port Elliot and Goolwa on the south coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula. Its median house price rose 13 per cent over the past year to the highest median of our regional highlighted places at $565,283.

Meanwhile, in Tasmania, the brightest spot for owners was Midway Point in Sorell, an easy 20-kilometre commute into Hobart, with a 15 per cent rise to a new median of $430,000.