Regional NSW housing demand surges amid city supply shortage
New research from buyer’s agency InvestorKit shows housing demand has surged in some regions of NSW suffering a lack of established and incoming supply.
SOME regional parts of NSW have experienced a surge in housing demand spurred by a shortfall of existing and new residential properties, buyer’s agency InvestorKit said.
The research, published on Wednesday, pointed to regional NSW hubs of Newcastle and Dubbo as among areas where housing demand outpaced supply across sales and rentals.
The federal government has pledged to deliver 1.2 million new, well-located homes by 2030 in a bid to ease the housing crisis. Dissatisfaction with affordability of housing in Australia reached a record high last year, ranking among the worst in the world.
In Dubbo, in the west of NSW, just 1.14% of homes were for sale while rental vacancies had fallen since late 2024 causing rents to lift 6.4 percent in the past 12 months, InvestorKit, a real estate buyers’ agency, said.
Newcastle, in the state’s Hunter region, had seen sale listings drop 10 percent and new approvals fall 27 percent in the last three years, it said, dramatically lifting property prices and rental costs.
“The city’s popularity, paired with limited new housing, is putting strong upward pressure on both property prices and rental costs,” InvestorKit said, referring to Newcastle.
Other areas experiencing a surge in housing demand were Maroondah and Kingston in Melbourne and Palmerston in Darwin, according to the research.
InvestorKit senior research analyst Junge Ma said the findings diverged from research in previous years that had highlighted supply shortages in South Australia and Queensland.
“FY25/26 shows tightening conditions emerging in Victoria, the Northern Territory, Tasmania and New South Wales,” Ma said in a statement.
“Lack of established and incoming supply, a deficit of social and build-to-rent housing, high construction costs, overseas migration and poor urban planning are all contributing to the problem.
“Until broad reform is implemented, the regions facing the sharpest shortages are likely to see ongoing upward pressure on both prices and rents.”
