PORT Stephens has seen its share of new home owners who have left the big cities behind in the past two years.

The seachange and treechangers have pushed property prices up and will create positive economic impact within the community.

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Many Australians would still love to live near the beach or with a water view despite recent flooding events, according to Pete Wargent, co-founder of Australia’s first national marketplace connecting property buyers to buyer’s agents, BuyersBuyers.

Mr Wargent said, “As we’ve seen in recent times, living near water can sometimes be too close for comfort when it comes to excessive rain and the resulting flooding.

“Recently towns such as Lismore and Gympie have experienced the full force of nature, with catastrophic flooding in some cases.”

Parts of Port Stephens and the MidCoast LGA’s were impacted by flooding.

“Sometimes owner-occupiers are prepared to buy in flood risk zones if they find a property which fits all of their other criteria, and if they love the location.

“For most investors, the opportunity to snare a potential bargain is usually offset by the risk of stunted capital growth (as future buyers may see potential flooding risk), and because the annual insurance premium when buying in a flood zone may be excessively high.

“For an interstate investor, in particular, there is less sleep at night factor if you own a property which you fear may be flooded at some point in the future.”

Doron Peleg, CEO of BuyersBuyers, said that water – particularly water views – continues to be a strong drawcard in Australian property.

Mr Peleg said, “Often properties with water views can appear to march to their own drum, performing well even when the wider market is lacklustre.

“A water view which can’t be built out is a genuine point of scarcity and desirability which tends to be reflected in long-term outperformance in Australia.”

This has been reflected in sales reaching some record highs in areas including Boat Harbour and Shoal Bay.

“We recently ran a market research report to decipher whether sea-change or treechange markets had outperformed in 2021 through the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated ‘race for space’, and the coastal markets recorded double the rate of growth of inland regional markets”.

That’s good news if you are planning to sell, but not such good news for those in the rental market.

“That’s not to say that treechange locations performed poorly – far from it, in many cases.

“Some inland markets have also benefited directly from regional moves away from the capital cities,” Mr Peleg said.

Overall, the results showed that regional properties had performed very well through the pandemic period.

But the coastal markets recorded double the rate of capital growth of the inland regions, on average, suggesting that the water continues to be in favour with Australian property buyers.

Rebecca Dean and Tracey Blonsdale are local real estate agents, they told News Of The Area, “Regional property values increased at more than triple the rate of capital cities in the last quarter, and Port Stephens is amongst them.

“Last quarter we saw 61 percent of our buyers came from Sydney, both investors and owner occupiers.

“The rental market also saw a surge with many buyers looking to buy and move in now, and many investors moving back into their properties with supply not keeping up with the demand.

“Overall, buyers are seeing the benefits in a sea change, with lower cost of living and flexible work conditions post-Covid.”

By Marian SAMPSON