As house prices across the region continue to skyrocket the latest figures, once again, show the biggest increase in property values across the Central West has come from a smaller centre than one might expect.
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Orange is still the most-expensive place to buy in terms of median house price, but in terms of values increasing, the new Domain House Price Report reveals Parkes to be the biggest mover of 2020.
December quarter figures show the median price of a house in Parkes has reached $335,000, marking an increase of 24.1 per cent across the 12 months prior and almost 10 per cent across the previous quarter alone.
The latter increase wasn't a one-off either, Parkes experienced the biggest rise in the September quarter too.
The yearly trend was observed across the region as markets everywhere rose at an average rate of about 11 per cent from December to December, continuing their rapid growth across the last five years.
Since the final quarter of 2015, cities and towns across the Central West have experienced incredible value increases from anywhere between 12 to 45 per cent.
Outside Parkes' big upward turn to make it the second highest in the state behind Byron Bay, December quarter numbers were positive across the region too - Cootamundra-Gundagai, Hilltops and Orange local government areas making the top 10 for house price growth, and Yass Valley and Forbes in the top 20.
Cootamundra-Gundagai, sitting at number five, has had a median house price climb by 18.7 per cent to $308,600, Hilltops at number six by 17.3 per cent to $315,500 and Orange at number eight 15.1 per cent to $495,000.
The median price in the Yass Valley (17th) is $665,000, rising by 11.2 per cent and Forbes (19th) is $321,500, rising by 10.9 per cent.
These are among 23 LGAs in the state to record double-digit percentage increases over 12 months.
Only Forbes and the Dubbo LGA experiencing slight drops from the previous period, of 2.6 and 2.2 per cent respectively.
For perspective, the Domain House Price Report showed only slight increases across the rest of the region, with Orange (5.5 per cent), the Mid-Western LGA (4.4 per cent) and Bathurst (3.7 per cent) recording the biggest rises.
"The longer-term numbers are obviously a far better indicator of markets because it's hard to judge on a single quarter alone," Real Estate Institute of NSW Orana division chairman Adam Wells said.
"There's a lot of factors that could come into a slight drop in a single quarter (in Forbes and Dubbo LGA), what sold during that period would have a big impact and you have to consider that we were coming into Christmas and the new year in that period too.
"A slight drop certainly wouldn't align with what we're seeing on the ground."
"In general what we're seeing is there's more demand than stock right now and I think that's true of the entire area."
Numbers show average house prices in Orange are easily the highest at $495,000 compared to the Mid-Western LGA ($470,000), Bathurst ($466,500), Dubbo LGA ($367,000), Lithgow ($355,000), Parkes ($335,000), Forbes ($321,000) and Cowra ($282,000).
Stay tuned, the Parkes Champion Post will be talking to a local real estate agent to gauge if figures reflect what we're seeing on the ground.
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