This transcript was generated automatically and may contain small errors.
In the past three years, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia have been all over headlines. New South Wales or Victoria didn't really appear much. But now we're seeing things changing. In this episode, I'm going through 10 regional New South Wales cities' property market data and let's see what opportunities are lying there. We will just start with the border city of Aubrey-Wodonga.
Lying on the border between New South Wales and Victoria, it has a population of around 150,000 people. The top industry contributing to the local economy is manufacturing. Job market is healthy with unemployment rate of 5. 1, which is lower than its last 10-year average. In the housing market, house median price is now $630,000 with 9.
1% growth over the past year. So it's already sped up. In terms of supply-demand relationship, inventory now has dropped 28% in a year to 3. 4 months of stock. That is a balanced level and we're seeing further declining trend into 2026.
Days on market is now 43 days and it's 13% lower than the same time last year. And again, we're seeing declining trend in the coming year as well. Vacancy rate is really low, 0. 65%, having increased a bit in 2025. But overall, this lower 1% level is still showing a really tight rental market.
And when it comes to incoming supply, a new house building approval rate in Aubrey-Wodonga is not really low, it's just at a balanced 2%. It's mostly because of the new house construction activities happening around Wodonga. It's really important that when you buy in Aubrey-Wodonga, try to stay in established areas instead of suburbs with high volume of construction. So overall, in Aubrey-Wodonga, sales market is already on its way of recovery, supply is further shrinking relative to demand, and its rental market is also tight. But on our leaderboard, Aubrey-Wodonga is just at the 7th place.
As we move forward, you see how some other cities are performing even better than Aubrey-Wodonga. Second city, Wagga Wagga. It's the central city, regional hub of the Riverina area. Population is just above 100,000. The top industry contributing to the local economy is also manufacturing.
Local job market is active with unemployment rate of 4. 1%. House prices are more affordable than Aubrey's. Median house price is now around 600,000. In the past year, we've seen 6% annual growth.
But the market pressure is fast accumulating. Inventory now is below 3 months of stock, 39% down over the past year. Days on market is not too much lower than the same time last year, but we are seeing a declining trend into 2026. Vacancy rate is as low as Aubrey-Wodonga's, 0. 63%.
And new house building approval rate is lower than Aubrey-Wodonga's at 1. 1%. So incoming supply is actually constrained. Overall, we're seeing healthy growth already and increasing market pressure with limited incoming supply. So Wagga Wagga is ranking 5th among the 10 cities.
Third city, Dubbo. Dubbo is the regional hub in central west Orana area with a population of 77,000. Construction is now the top industry contributing to the local economic output. Job market is really active with an unemployment rate of just 2. 8%.
In the house market, median price now is 600,000 with 10% growth over the past year. Supply is tight now with an inventory of 2. 2 months of stock and 27% lower than the same time last year. Days on market at the same time has also dropped by more than 10% in a year with a further declining trend in the coming year. Rental market is also tight with 0.
7% vacancy rate with a declining trend as well. Incoming supply similar to Wagga's is constrained. 0. 9% new house building approval rate. Tight supply in both sales market and rental market combined with a limited incoming supply.
Dubbo's growth potential is looking good in the coming year. That is why it's sitting at the third place on our leaderboard. And for the fourth region, we're combining Waiyong and Lake Macquarie, treating them as one buying market in the central coast region. Combined population is above 390,000. The top contributor of the local economy is construction as well.
This is because we're seeing a lot of infrastructure improvement happening in that area. Job market is also very active with just 3. 4% unemployment rate. In the house market, median price now is close to 1 million. At the time of recording, median is already 950,000 with 7% growth in the past year.
Supply is tight also in both the sales market and rental market. Sales inventory now is 2. 5 months of stock with a 30% drop over the past year. Days on market also has seen a more than 10% drop over 2025. Vacancy rate is the lowest so far, 0.
4%, 13% lower than the same time last year with a further declining momentum. Incoming supply is also low with a building approval of new houses of 1. 3%. So market conditions of Waiyong Lake Macquarie region is looking good. Supply is really tight in both markets and the economic foundation is looking good.
The only constraint for its growth is the affordability as we are expecting another year of a high interest rate. That is why Waiyong is just sitting at the 8th place on the leaderboard. The fifth region, Bathurst, the regional hub of the central west area with a population of 51,000. Construction is also the top contributor of the local economy. Job market is really tight, 2.
1% unemployment rate. In the house market, median price is not as low as Double or Wagga. It's actually at 700,000 now with 6. 2% growth over the past year. Again, supply is shrinking across both the sales markets and the rental market.
Sales inventory now is 2. 7 months with a 40% drop over the past year. Days on market has also dropped by around 8% in a year, both with a further declining momentum. Rental vacancy rate is now 0. 7%, 22% lower than the same time last year.
Incoming supply is limited, 1. 1% new house building approval rate. And on our leaderboard, Bathurst is sitting at the fourth place, just slightly lower than Double. The sixth city is Newcastle, the largest regional hub on New South Wales' north coast. Population is now close to 190,000 with 1.
5% per year growth. This is a relatively high population growth rate across New South Wales' regional cities. The top contributor to its local economy is manufacturing. Unemployment rate, 3. 5%, also indicating a really active job market.
Median house price isn't affordable anymore, close to 1 million at the time of recording. Supply is almost always tight in Newcastle, but over the past year and also now, it's not showing too much shrinking momentum, likely because of the affordability constraint. Inventory is just 1. 6 months of stock, 16% lower than the same time last year, not dropping really fast. Days on market is stabilized at 27 days, the same level as we saw last year.
Vacancy rate is 0. 94%, indicating tight rental market conditions as well. Newcastle has the lowest incoming supply level across all cities. Building approval rate for new houses, just 0. 7%.
So overall, Newcastle is sitting at the sixth place on the leaderboard, higher than Waiyong Lake Macquarie because the supply level is already tight. Incoming supply is extremely tight, higher than Waiyong Lake Macquarie region because its supply is already very tight, and at the same time, its local economy and job market is more active than Waiyong and Lake Macquarie's. The seventh region is Maitland, very close to Newcastle, one of the regional hubs in the Hunter region, with a population of 95,000. The top contributor of the local economy is healthcare and social assistance. Job market is active with unemployment rate of 3.
6%. House prices are not really affordable in Maitland. Median house price is 800,000 now, with a 6. 7% growth in the past year. Supply is shrinking.
Inventory now is 3. 5 months, with a 28% drop year on year. Days on market has also dropped by 22%. Rental pressure is now high, with a vacancy rate of 0. 7%.
There's an increase over the past year, but 0. 7% is still very tight condition. Incoming supply is not really tight. The building approval rate of new houses are at 2. 78%.
Similar to Aubrey-Odonga, this is because of the high volume of house construction in the French areas. So if we are going to buy in Maitland, it's better to avoid those areas and go for more established suburbs. Maitland's house market pressure is increasing, and we are seeing tight rental market conditions. But because of the slightly higher established supply and incoming supply, we have to put it at the ninth place on our leaderboard. Now the eighth region is Tamworth in the New England region.
Population is close to 90,000, with manufacturing being the top contributor to the local economy. Job market is really active, with an unemployment rate of 2%. In the house market, prices are still relatively affordable. Median house price now is around $550,000, with a 13% growth over the past year. We can really see how powerful affordability is in this high interest rate environment.
