NSW’s Central Coast property market has been booming since COVID last year and The Agency’s local team has been making hay while the sun shines, breaking a series of suburb sales records in 2021.
Led by Brian Whiteman, The Agency’s Central Coast team has achieved an impressive record-breaking sales run, obtaining six suburb records over the past two months.
The team, which also includes Tony Trinder, Jennifer Whiteman, Bridget Dempsey, Josh Froud, and Simon Mitrovich, has broken records in Killarney Vale, Bateau Bay, Tumbi Umbi, Holgate, Chittaway Bay, and Mount Elliot.
Some of the suburb records have been broken by as much as $800,000 and $900,000.
Mr Trinder and his team have attributed the success to a combination of COVID-inspired regional migration, infrastructure development including the completion of the NorthConnex tunnel, and their own focused buyer-nurturing strategy.
“There has been a huge amount of out-of-area interest in the Central Coast, particularly from Sydney,” Mr Trinder said.
“In fact, we have data showing the inquiry rate is about 10 times that of last year at the same time.
“People are seeking a different lifestyle and value for money, and with the NorthConnex, the Central Coast has become another suburb of Sydney, it is so convenient now.”
As well as there being an abundance of interested buyers in the market, there are fewer vendors, Mr Trinder said.
“We are not only nurturing our vendors but working very closely with all our buyers to find what they are looking for.
“Often buyers have a specific property type in mind with specific attributes but they can become set on a particular suburb.
“We’ve had enormous success in finding the perfect property but it might be in the next suburb. That is the strength of our team, we are able to cover the market broadly.”
One of the suburb records the team broke recently was for at Bateau Bay, where a house at 6 Guyagal Street recently sold for $800,000 more than the previous record.
Even more remarkably, a house at 25 Atkinson Road at nearby Mount Elliott beat its own previous record by $900,000. The house last changed hands four years ago and has only had minor improvements in the intervening years.
According to Mr Trinder, investors have come back into the market in force so far this year, driven by low interest rates and attracted to the Central Coast’s high rental yields and low vacancy rates.
The other motivated buyer group are those looking for convenient holiday homes located close to Sydney for ease of access.
However, first-home buyers are struggling to get a foothold in the current market.
“We have not seen this level of investor activity in many years,” Mr Trinder said. “Additionally, the holiday home market has gentrified with Sydney buyers committing much bigger budgets to these purchases.
“The fact that some of these record sales are $800,000 to $900,000 above the previous suburb record supports what we are seeing.”
