Warnervale/Wadalba is the only Central Coast area that qualified as a home building and population growth “hot spot” in the latest report by the Housing Industry Association (HIA).
Craig Jennion, who is Executive Director of HIA Hunter Region (which takes in the Central Coast), released the 2024 edition of the HIA Population and Residential Building Hotspots Report on May 23.
The report identifies Australia’s fastest-growing suburbs and regional hot spots based on population growth and also indicates areas with high levels of building activity and, therefore, employment for the building industry.
The national hot spots list is determined if an area (Statistical Area Level 2) recorded at least $200M in new residential building approvals in 2022/23, and its population grew faster than the national growth rate of 2.4 per cent.
The Hunter/Central Coast region hot spots list uses the same minimum population growth rate of 2.4 per cent and a threshold in approvals of $50M.
There are eight districts in the Hunter/Central Coast region on the hot spots list.
Branxton/Greta/Pokolbin makes it to the NSW Top 10 List, after recording $216.3M in residential building approvals in 2022/23 and a population growth rate of 6.2 per cent.
This area saw an approvals dollar value increase of 48.43 per cent.
Jennion said that while the other areas that made it to the Hunter/Central Coast list did not meet the national threshold of $200M, they represented areas in the region that were seeing a population and home building boom.
Second on the Hunter/Central Coast list was Thornton/Millers Forest, with $112.6M in residential building approvals in 2022/23, as well as a population growth rate of 5.8 per cent.
Third place went to Morisset/Corranbong, with a population growth rate of 3.8 per cent in 2022/23 and residential building approvals totalling $139.4M.
Warnervale/Wadalba, the only Central Coast district and coming in fourth, recorded $53.9M in residential building approvals in 2022/23 and a population growth of 3.5 per cent.
Others in the eight Hunter/Central Coast areas are: Williamtown/Medowie/Karuah, Kurri Kurri/Abermain, Edgeworth/Cameron Park, Rutherford (North)/Aberglassyn.
“The report found that the prohibitively high cost of housing in some of Australia’s capital cities is forcing residents out to areas with better economic and home ownership opportunities such as the Hunter and Central Coast,” Jennion said.
Sue Murray