Hunter Valley Property Market Update 2nd Half of 2019

In Q2 2019, Hunter Valley recorded a median house price of $485,000 and a median unit price of $330,000. This represents annual (Q2 2018 – Q2 2019) median price growth of 4.3% for houses and a price softening of -4.3% for units. At the same time, total sales slowed for Q2 2019, by -29.4% for houses to 197 sales and by -59.4% for units to 13 sales. Now is the time to consider selling your home, with prices increasing and reduced local competition.

Average vendor discount between Q2 2018 and Q2 2019 has widened for both property types, to -4.2% for houses and -6.1% for units, indicating sellers are willing to negotiate below their initial listing price. Now is the time to enter the market in the Hunter Valley, particularly for units which are seeing record levels of discounting.

Over the past 12 months, house rental yields in the Hunter Region steadily increased to reach 3.9% in June 2019. This suggests the house rental market is in a healthy position, despite a slight decline in demand for rental properties in the Hunter Region across the same time period (-6.3% in the 12 months to Q2 2019).

2 bedroom houses have provided investors with +27.5% rental growth annually, achieving a median rent of $345 per week.

Vacancy rates in the Hunter Region remained stable over the past 12 months, recorded at 1.6% in June 2019. This is in contrast to increasing vacancy rates in Sydney Metro, which confirms there is a healthier rental demand in the Region.