A considerable rise in property values over the past 12 months has done little to deter buyers on the hunt for a new house, according to Townsend Real Estate owner Stephen Townsend.
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The median price paid for a new house in Orange was $415,000 in December last year, up almost $30,000 from the same time in 2017.
Mr Townsend said the biggest concern for real estate agents in Orange was not rising prices putting people off, it was “having enough supply to fill demand”.
“There are plenty of buyers at the moment and the length of time a house is up on the market is still very short,” he said.
We manage 300 rental properties and at the moment there are two vacant, but that’s often the case at this time of year.
- Townsend Real Estate owner Stephen Townsend
The Domain State of the Market Report, December Quarter 2018 showed prices in Orange had jumped by 7 per cent in one year from a median of $387,750 at the end of 2017.
Mr Townsend was surprised the median price was so high, suggesting the median price of $415,000 would’ve been more likely at the back end of 2019.
He said for that price a family would be moving into a comfortable four-bedroom, two-bathroom house, and the two agents at Townsend Real Estate had sold five houses which matched that price and description in the first two weeks of January alone.
He said they’d sold another two in the second half of the month and currently had offers pending on another three.
Mr Townsend said during what was traditionally a quiet time for home buyers he expected the bigger real estate agents in town had experienced the same “healthy” Christmas period.
He said he did not believe rising house prices had caused more of a strain on the city’s rental market, but that wasn’t to say it wouldn’t in the future.
“We manage 300 rental properties and at the moment there are two vacant, but that’s often the case at this time of year with teachers, nurses and doctors on one year contracts looking for a house,” Mr Townsend said.
Mr Townsend said while buyers could rest assured Orange had dodged the volatility experienced in Sydney and Melbourne’s real estate markets and it was too early to feel the effects of the royal banking commission, he believed it could make it more difficult for buyers to borrow.
Domain data showed Bathurst topped the list for the most expensive median house price in the region at $450,000, ahead of Orange and Dubbo ($365,000).
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