That message is taking hold, according to the city’s real estate agents, who are reporting an upward swing in the number of first home buyers since the start of the financial year.

That’s when legislative changes and tax reforms kicked in which saw first home buyers become exempt from paying stamp duty on new and existing properties.

The law change was introduced in an effort to curb that housing affordability crisis which, though worse in Sydney, was also being felt in regional areas.

Happily, it seems to be having the desired effect.

Young home buyers – those previously based in Orange and those moving here from other locations – are taking their first steps up the property-ownership ladder.

The admirable initiative is the latest in a decades-long string undertaken by Governments of all persuasions to make the Australian dream of home ownership achievable.

Orange residents have reaped tens of millions of dollars in funding from first-home owner grants and concessions over the past 15 years, with millions passing through the hands of prospective home owners since the First Home Owner Grant Act was introduced in 2000.

Needless to say, any money that can help remove young people – especially those with families – from the rental spiral is very welcome indeed.

If it also draws some Sydneysiders to our area on a permanent basis, all the better.

And with the comparative costs of real estate in the two locations, why wouldn’t it?

As of the June quarter, Sydney’s median house price sat at a whopping $1,178,000 million. On the other side of the spectrum, Orange’s median house price remains well below the $400,000 mark.

With many people locked out of buying in metropolitan hubs due to sky-rocketing housing costs and extreme capital growth rates, more people than ever are looking beyond the Great Dividing Range for a foothold into the real estate market.

Orange’s reputation as one of NSW’s flagship regional centres means many of them are choosing – or will choose in the future – to make their new home here.

The provision of Government-issued financial incentives to buy property just sweetens the deal.