Newcastle house prices edged higher again in August, continuing the market's relatively stately progress through the first six months of the coronavirus pandemic.
New figures from analysts CoreLogic issued on Tuesday show property prices across the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas rose 0.2 per cent in the month, after a 0.8 per cent increase in July. Prices rose 0.6 per cent across the rest of the Hunter.
Across the nation, prices dropped 0.4 per cent in August, led by a 1.2 per cent decline in Melbourne and a 0.5 per cent fall in Sydney.
The Newcastle Herald reported two weeks ago that 35,700 people had lost work across the Hunter since February, though the region added 5100 jobs in July.
Newcastle real estate agent Steph Jordan said she had sold a house in Edith Street, Waratah, last week for $522,000, well above the marketed price range of $450,000 to $480,000.
"I had 47 groups of people through the first weekend and six offers," she said.
Ms Jordan had expected the market to be more affected by the pandemic when the lockdown began in March.
Her phone "stopped ringing for two weeks", but the market had bounced back quickly.
"We do have a pretty stable economy with health, schools and trades. That's been a lot of the first homebuyers I've seen," she said.
"And then on the other side I've seen more and more buyers from Sydney or other bigger cities that are looking to move because of flexible work.
"One of my best friends had been looking at buying a one-bedroom or studio unit in Sydney for the $700,000 to $800,000 range, and now she only has to work two days a week in the office she's now looking at buying a house here and commuting."
Ms Jordan said a lack of houses listed on the market had also kept demand and prices high.
"I had an open house at Eleebana on Saturday and there were 30 groups through," she said. "We haven't seen numbers like that in a couple of years."
Prices are down 2.1 per cent in the past quarter in Sydney and 3.5 per cent in Melbourne. Newcastle prices are up 1.1 per cent in the same period, on par with the NSW regional average, and up 7.4 per cent in the past 12 months.
"Unlike their capital city counterparts, which usually receive 85 per cent of net overseas migration, most regional markets have avoided the drop in demand caused by the pause in migration," CoreLogic head of research Tim Lawless said.
"The normalisation of remote work through the pandemic could make proximity to major cities less of a factor in home purchasing."
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