Warilla, Lake Illawarra and Oak Flats’ unit markets were among the region’s top-performing markets over the past three months. Photo: Andrew Sutton.
It’s all looking like good news in the Illawarra property market with homes back in the million-dollar club and the local market moving firmly into “growth mode”.
The latest data from Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) shows housing demand is holding strong, selling conditions are looking good and prices are on the rise.
It comes as Cotality’s June Home Value Index (HVI) showed the national HVI rose another 0.5 per cent in May and regional markets trending positively, with each of the “rest of state” markets recording value gains year-to-date. Regional SA led the growth with 5.8 per cent, while on the other end of the spectrum, regional Tasmania remained flat at 0.1 per cent.
In the Illawarra, growth fell somewhere in between — values are up 2.5 per cent over the year to date, outperforming the national average and in line with the broader regional performance.
May saw the strongest rate of growth so far this year for the Illawarra, with values up 1 per cent.
“No doubt this was buoyed by interest rate reductions,” Cotality Australia Head of Research Eliza Owen said.
“Interestingly, this led the median dwelling value to surpass $1 million for the first time since June 2022, when rates started rising and the market was pushed into a slight downswing.
“The Illawarra is well and truly back in growth mode.”
Illawarra selling conditions are outperforming other markets in the state, with the region’s properties spending a median number of 36 days on the market over the past three months leading to May — compared to 49 days across broader regional NSW.
In good news for investors, rent performance also continues to lift — up 1.3 per cent in the past three months.
Cotality Australia Head of Research Eliza Owen said the Illawarra was in a growth mode. Photo: CoreLogic.
Based on changes in values over the past three months, the region’s top-performing market was Warilla units, which were up a staggering 6.5 per cent, followed by Lake Illawarra units up 5.8 per cent and Oak Flats units up 5.1 per cent.
Gwynneville was the strongest house market, up 4.2 per cent in three months to May taking median house values across the suburb to $1.2 million.
At the other end of the spectrum, Gerringong houses were down 2.4 per cent in the three months to May, leaving values sitting just under $1.8 million, and Helensburgh units were down 2.1 per cent.
“It’s an interesting dynamic because what we usually see is high-end markets responding well to cash rate reductions,” Ms Owen said. “It might be there’s some lag for the Illawarra, especially if higher-end buyers are focusing with renewed attention back on the Sydney market. Time will tell.”
Ms Owen said the speed at which the Sydney market reacted to recent rate cuts was surprising, and while experts were originally not predicting any material shifts in regional markets before the end of the year, this trend could flow through to major regional areas sooner than expected.
However, she pointed to certain factors that could temper growth.
“Even though we’ve seen a quick response to the housing market since rate cuts, there are probably more headwinds for the housing market than there were in previous periods of rate cuts,” she said.
“Affordability remains a persistent constraint, and there’s some uncertainty in the country’s economic outlook. We have unwinding unemployment and the Trump tariff announcements which, though looking like they’ll be milder than stated in the Liberation Day announcements, still create a level of economic uncertainty, and that’s never good for investment and big purchases.”
