This article was featured in the Daily Advertiser and written by Penny Burfitt.
Wagga real estate agents have disputed recent data that listed seven Wagga suburbs in the bottom 20 for home value growth in the state.
Turvey Park, Wagga Central, Lake Albert, Mount Austin, Tolland, Forest Hill and Kooringal were among the 20 slowest growing suburbs in NSW in the last 10 years, according to data compiled by CoreLogic.
The figures were included in a list of the fastest and slowest growing suburbs in the last decade in NSW, but agents on the ground said the data missed the mark.
PRD’s Simon Freemantle said the numbers are an inaccurate reflection of Wagga’s performance in the last decade, with median house price data compiled by their research team telling a different story.
“The figures aren’t keeping up with the real market today,” Mr Freemantle said.
“They’re not reflective of what we’re seeing, they’re not reflective of our research department and they’re not reflect of Pricefinder figures.”
The Professionals’ Paul Irvine agreed the numbers do not reflect the market.
“I’ve sold for 30 years here so I’ve seen the trends [and] that data really surprises me,” he said.
PRD’s research department’s figures show 40.1 per cent median price growth over 10 years in the Wagga LGA compared to CoreLogic figures that had value growth at 14.3 per cent.
CoreLogic’s data is based on median home value calculations while PRD’s data tracked sale prices.
Mr Freemantle suggested CoreLogic’s data may not draw from a big enough data set, but head of research at CoreLogic Eliza Owens said they are rigorous in their data gathering.
Ms Owens suggested the different metrics being used could account for the discrepancy between the two data sets.
“Looking at the broader housing performance of Wagga overall the data seems to stack up in these suburbs with what we’ve seen in that market more broadly,’ she said.
Ms Owens said the overall data shows inland regional growth is typically slower compared with metro or coastal areas.
“When we look at this list of subdued growth rates, they have in common that they’re inland areas,” she said.
While both CoreLogic and PRD data show slower growth in Wagga over 10 years compared to the rest of the state, more recent growth has accelerated beyond that.
PRD’s five-year measurement shows Wagga’s home values grew by 22.1 per cent compared with 21.1 per cent in Sydney and 22.1 in NSW.
CoreLogic data showed that while annual change was below 2 per cent in the seven suburbs over the 10-year period, growth escalated by up to 20 per cent in the last 12 months.
Ms Owens puts the growth down to a regional shift that has occurred since the pandemic began last year.
“COVID has presented more opportunities for regional markets,” she said. “There has been more demand in the economy and it kicks off a virtuous growth cycle that is reflected in some of the stronger growth rates we’ve seen across Wagga recently.”
Mr Freemantle said demand and growth in Wagga predates COVID, but has been further accelerated by the pandemic.
