The numbers are in and as a landowner you will be happy to know the value of your land in the Bellingen Shire has increased ‘moderately’ over the last 12 months (to July 2018).
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According to the NSW Valuer General, whose annual report was released this week, this trend was consistent across most classes of property in the residential, commercial and industrial market sectors.
The report said rural land values showed the strongest increase, driven primarily by continued high demand for quality property on the sought after and tightly held Dorrigo Plateau.
Dorrigo agent, Rory Birt from Ray White Real Estate, confirmed this, saying sales of rural land in particular had been pretty good for the last two years.
“This area holds a big attraction for rural people because it rains here,” Rory said.
“Plus there are the added attributes of the climate, being close to the coast and all the services.”
He said things had been a little tighter recently following the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services.
“Some deals have been a bit harder to get across the line because banks have tightened their lending practices but there are still plenty of inquiries and plenty of good listings.”
He said last year had been the best yet and December the biggest month ever.
“We had four big auctions – two dairies at Raleigh and two properties here and they all sold.
I am optimistic for the year ahead – it is not the doom and gloom here that you read about in the cities
- Rory Birt
The Valuer General also pointed out the recent completion of Pacific Highway upgrades between Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie had significantly reduced travel times, improved road safety and enhanced the general accessibility of the region.
In residential properties:
Land values for rural-residential properties in fringing Bellingen township and up Thora remained steady following easing the demand that prevailed through 2016 and 2017.
Fernmount saw the biggest increase in value, 15 per cent, followed by Newry Island with 12- 14 per cent.
Commercial property:
Moderate increases here with the established commercial precincts in Bellingen and Dorrigo experiencing continued good levels of demand for a comparatively low and historically inconsistent supply of quality property entering the market.
Commercial property value increases were the highest in Dorrigo with 10.5 per cent.
Industrial land:
Rises here were driven primarily by increased demand from purchasers attracted by relatively low industrial land values in comparison to those of the nearby Coffs Harbour.
Decreased travel times and improvements in accessibility with the Pacific Highway upgrades also supported this sector.
Raleigh had the highest increase at 8.3 per cent.
The rural land market:
Strong increase here with continued high demand for good quality rural property holdings on the Dorrigo Plateau.
Megan and Bielsdown were the stand-outs with 14.7 and 14.8 per cent increases respectively, followed by Thora and Hydes Creek.
Land values are used by the council to calculate rates; currently rates are based on 2016 valuations.
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Ute Schulenberg
Journalism was always my plan but plans being what they are, I did not get to realise it until my early 40s ... and have loved every minute since. For me community journalism is the most intimate and honest place to be in this field - telling the stories of people I live with, side-by-side, every day. It is an honour.
Journalism was always my plan but plans being what they are, I did not get to realise it until my early 40s ... and have loved every minute since. For me community journalism is the most intimate and honest place to be in this field - telling the stories of people I live with, side-by-side, every day. It is an honour.
