Wagga Wagga Property Market Update 1st Half 2023
In Q1 2023, Wagga Wagga recorded a median house price of $569,500, and a median unit price of $337,500. This represents annual (Q1 2022 – Q1 2023) median price growth of 10.3% for houses and 8.5% for units. However, on a quarterly basis (Q4 2022-Q1 2023) median prices softened by -1.0% for houses and -2.2% for units. These trends suggest cash rate hikes translated into the market. Total sales declined between Q1 2022 – Q1 2023, by -31.9% (to 226 sales) for houses, while total sales for units increased by 6.3% over the 12-month period (to 34 sales). New opportunities now exist for buyers.
Average vendor discounts between Q1 2022 and Q1 2023 have widened to further discounts, of -4.4% for houses and -2.5% for units. Market conditions in Wagga Wagga now favour buyers, with Q1 2023 recording some of the highest average vendor discounts since 2020. That said unit’s average vendor discounts have slightly stabilised between Q3 2022 and Q1 2023, thus unit sellers can be more confident of market conditions.
House rental yields in Wagga Wagga were recorded at 4.0% in March 2023, well above Sydney Metro (2.9%). Furthermore, in the 12 months to Q1 2023 median house rental price increased by 6.7% to sit at $480 per week, alongside a significant increase in the number of houses rented (to 427 rentals). Average days on market remained at a low 23 days in Q1 2023. The same pattern can be seen in the unit rental market, confirming Wagga Wagga as an attractive investment option.
3-bedroom houses have provided investors with +13.9% rental growth annually, achieving a median rent of $450 per week.
Wagga Wagga recorded a vacancy rate of 1.2% in March 2023, which is slightly below Sydney Metro’s 1.3% average. The spike in early 2023 can be attributed to more investors capitalising on a tight rental market. Vacancy rates in Postcode 2650 remain lower than pre-COVID-19 time and under the Real Estate Institute of Australia’s healthy benchmark of 3.0%. This suggests a conductive investment environment, especially with a more affordable house price in the past quarter.
