The NSW Central Coast has achieved significant growth over the last three years, not only as a result of Sydney's property boom, but also of its own economic development.
After eight long, slow years of modest performance, the property markets of Gosford and Wyong in the Central Coast of New South Wales have now strung together three strong years of growth.
Whilst Gosford median house values crawled from $390,000 at the start of 2004 to $465,000 at the start of 2013, they subsequently grew to be worth $570,000 by June 2015. In Wyong, the median house value was even more sluggish, going from $345,000 at the start of 2005 to $365,000 at the start of 2014, and then jumped to $429,000 by June 2015.
While much of the recent property price growth in Central Coast can be attributed to the ripple effect from Sydney’s 3-year boom, some of this growth can be accredited to its own economic development.
The jobs data for the Central Coast area for four of the last five years has been most impressive; employment trends can often be a precursor for property market trends.
The main industry employers on the Central Coast are retail, health, construction, manufacturing, and accommodation and food services (tourism); each of these industries have been buoyant over recent years. Job creation directly leads to more demand for local housing and increased capacity through wage growth and confidence.
According to id.com.au, food manufacturing has been particularly strong in Wyong. The sector contributes 1,537 jobs (3.0 per cent) to total employment and $147.11 million to total revenue. Wyong is an important exporter to both domestic and international markets, particularly grain mill, cereal products, fruit and vegetable processing. Life Health Foods is a major local employer. The Cordina Food Co expanded in to the area in 2014.
Tourism markets throughout Australia are doing well and Central Coast is no different; Propertyology forecasts more of the same to come. The Wyong City Council is in advanced in discussions with Australia Chinese Theme Park Pty Ltd (a Chinese developer) for a proposed $500 million Chinese theme park known as Chappypie China Time. The proposal involves thousands of jobs during construction and an additional 1,000 full-time once completed.
The region has a current population of circa 340,000. Population growth rates, age demographic, and household income data reflects the laid back nature of Central Coast.
There is significant land available for development in the region and, with construction being one of the largest industry workforces, housing supply in the region has historical come ahead of demand. This has been a significant contributing factor to the underwhelming performance of its property market throughout the last decade. More recently, building approval volumes have been more controlled and price growth has followed.
The release of the draft Central Coast Regional Plan in November 2015 has flagged residential construction as a priority.
Simon Pressley
Simon Pressley is Managing Director of Propertyology. Having being awarded Australia’s buyer’s agent of the year on three consecutive occasions, Simon is a REIA Hall Of Fame Inductee. Propertyology’s core business involves full-time analyses of property markets all over Australia. Working exclusively for property investors, their service involves buying properties in strategically chosen locations all over Australia.
