It now costs $415,000 to buy the average home in Orange.
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Quarterly figures from property site Domain this week show the median price for a house in Orange has risen 2.7 per cent from the same June quarter last year when the median was $404,000.
However units have become more affordable, with the price falling by 9.8 per cent in the past 12 months to a median price of $257,000.
Orange real estate agents said it was hard to find a free-standing new house, or older-style house in the CBD, in Orange for $415,000.
McCormack Barber Real Estate agents Adam Scimone and Tom Figuero have two new villas on Hill Street for sale for $415,000 each.
Mr Scimone said the three bedroom, two bathroom villas were about the only new homes available in Orange for the median price.
"[It suits] the first home buyer or investor," he said.
"Also people who don't want a lot of maintenance, maybe self-retirees who don't want to look after the gardens."
Mr Figuero said it would rent for about $400 a week.
One Agency real estate director Ash Brown said prices had risen substantially in the past five years.
"Five years ago you could buy a four-bedroom, two bathroom brand new house in north Orange [for $415,000]. Now they are closer to $500,000," he said.
Mr Brown said buyers would struggle to find an older-style house near the CBD for $415,000.
"There would be quite a few in East Orange. In the CBD I don't think you'd get anything," he said.
Mr Brown said houses in that price range would mostly be weatherboard or fibro, not brick, and unrenovated.
"New townhouses are now creeping into that bracket. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms are creeping in the early fours [$400,000s] in East Orange," he said.
Domain also reported there was likely to be an increase in investors in the housing market by September.
Mr Brown said investors were already buying in Orange.
"Negative gearing has been untouched, rentals are strong and interest rates are at a record low. They are the three indicators investors look for," he said.
"A lot of investors are almost positive gearing now on selected properties. The rent covers the repayments. In five or 10 years it is paying for itself."
Domain economist Trent Wiltshire said the Orange median unit prices had fluctuated over the past three years.
He said the median price for the June quarter in 2017 was $240,000.
It increased to $285,000 but has now fallen to $257,000 in 2019.
"The median unit price has fallen by 10 per cent in the past year, but they are still 7 per cent higher than two years ago," he said.
"There aren't that many unit sales each year in Orange so the numbers can move around a bit."
The median house price remains below that of Bathurst where it is $430,000, up from $425,000 a year ago.
However, Orange prices are still well above Dubbo at $360,500.
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