AT news emerged last week that the Sydney median house price has reached $1 million, many of us in the Shoalhaven would have looked around at our surroundings and the homes in which we live and thought ourselves incredibly fortunate.
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One million dollars will not buy you much in Sydney. If you want to live reasonably close to where you work, it would probably put you in a fixer-upper hemmed in all sides and prone to rising damp.
Around here, on the other hand, even though prices have been marching upwards as the heat from the Sydney market has radiated southward, $1 million will put you in a very comfortable family home with change left over for a modest investment property. It will get you into a home with water views, which would be impossible in Sydney.
We point this out because it’s further proof that in many ways we are blessed to live where we do. But word is spreading throughout the city, where prices continue to defy predictions. Naturally, people there nearing retirement age are cashing in and that’s fuelling demand all along the coast. One real estate agent recently told about a fellow who sold his house in Sydney, bought in Nowra and had enough change to buy a four-wheel drive, boat and caravan. His city mates came to visit and now they, too, are doing the same.
First home buyers north of us who are finding it difficult to enter the market are also looking favourably at our so far much better value property prices.
If Kiama’s experience is anything to go by – it’s one of the most expensive regional property markets in NSW – it won’t be too long before that pressure is felt more acutely here.
Growth is a good thing for the area. The more people, the more demand for goods and services, the healthier the economy. We just hope local people toying with the idea of buying their first home do so before they become priced out of the market.