- Ellis Gelios
Domain's Chief of Research and Economics details latest real estate trends across the Flow network
Dr Nicola Powell is a property expert and the Chief of Research and Economics at one of Australia's leading property marketplaces, the Domain Group.
Powell appeared on the Country Viewpoint program this week to inform listeners about the latest real estate trends in key areas of Flow's listener base, including the Barossa wine region and Yorke Peninsula area of South Australia.
Powell outlined why South Australia has been a significant state to monitor in a competitive market, with prices in regional parts of the festive state nudging record metrics.
"South Australia has been so fascinating...when you look at regional South Australia overall as a chunk, house prices are at a record high, we've seen nine consecutive quarters of growth for house prices in regional South Australia," Powell said.
"That's the longest stretch of continuous price growth for houses that we've seen in roughly about 20 years, that really showcases the unusual period of time we've seen in regional South Australia - Barossa is one of those.
"Barossa has benefited from a strong upswing, we've seen house prices increase by roughly about 58% over the last five years, they're still up 11% over the last year, a median house price in Barossa at $550,000, but that five-year figure is a little bit eye-watering when you look, it's almost at 60% in terms of what the price change has been in the Barossa."
In better news for prospective buyers, Powell noted that the Yorke Peninsula region was far more affordable for those wanting to enter the market.
"Yorkes is more affordable compared to some of the regional LGAs (Local Government Areas) of South Australia, it's got a median house price currently of just over $370,000, when you compare that to the five years ago, $260,000 was the median house price," Powell said.
"We've seen house prices rise over the last five years, over last year, certainly not on the five-year period to the extent that we saw in the Barossa, so we've seen house prices in York Peninsula increase about 43% over the last five years.
"But our annual growth is still very significant, up 16% over the last 12 months, so it's gone from $320,000 up to just over $370,000.