“Many regional areas such as Bathurst, Tamworth

and Wagga Wagga have high rates of employment

and booming agriculture, healthcare and education

sectors. Professionals and families are attracted

by the country atmosphere, yet they don’t have to

sacrifi ce big city comforts,” he said.

Matthew Clifton, Principal of Raine & Horne

Bathurst says, “We have a large percentage of

out-of-town investors who have bought or who are

currently looking for investment properties.”

“Three bedroom houses with a single or double

lock up garage are on the market from $260,000

to $280,000 and upwards, whereas something a

little bigger with four bedrooms would start around

$300,000 to $380,000,” he added.

Bryan Bolitho, Principal of Raine & Horne Tamworth

said, “We have noticed a lot of buyers relocating

from Sydney, the Central Coast and even out from

smaller regional areas further west. “Tamworth is

the largest retail centre for the New England and

North West Slopes regions of NSW and the retail

industry is the largest employer in the city,” he

added. “Wagga is very popular with investors and

roughly one third of the town’s homes are occupied

by rental properties,” commented Stephen Millard,

Principal Raine & Horne Wagga Wagga. “The

Government sector is the largest employer in the

Wagga area. The Australian Army has a base at

Kapooka,” he said. “Charles Sturt University is also

in Wagga as are two major hospitals.”

That is not to say that Coastal NSW has lost its

lustre, with Raine & Horne opening new offi ces

at Davistown and Saratoga on the Central Coast.

Raine & Horne Terrigal has also opened a second

offi ce along the popular coastal town’s shopping

strip after merging with rival Ray White Terrigal.

“The timing is absolutely right for the merger as the

Terrigal market is strong with a steady stream of

buyer enquiry, while days on market are down to

60 from 112 days.

Likewise the team at Raine & Horne Manly Geoff

Pickering, Marlena Sait and Toby Hutton have

opened Raine & Horne Freshwater. Mr Pickering

said the time was ripe to launch Raine & Horne

Freshwater. “Rental yields are up to 5% gross,

while local values have jumped as much as 15%

over the last twelve months,” said Mr Pickering.

“On the basis of investor, retiree and up-grader

demand, we expect average growth of 10%

annually for the next five to seven years in

Freshwater’s apartment market.”