Regional New South Wales tops the list in a new report detailing the country's most promising locations for price growth in 2022.
Comparison site Canstar released its Rising star report this week, ranking Australia's 14 biggest property markets for growth potential and earmarking 110 'rising star' suburbs with strong market fundamentals.
Warners Bay, Singleton Heights and Cessnock were all named rising star suburbs.
The trio have median house prices of $750,000, $420,000 and $395,000 respectively and all have vacancy rates of less than one per cent, which has driven up rent prices.
Sales activity has reportedly doubled in Cessnock since early 2020, while Warners Bay has enjoyed a considerable spike in prices this year, according to the report.
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"It's highly sought after," LJ Hooker Warners Bay's Cameron Stevenson said of the lakeside suburb.
"We're having substantial price growth due to the sheer lack of supply in the area - a lot of people want to be around the lake.
"Lots of young families are moving to the area, that's really common - local, Newcastle, Lake Macquarie or from out of town.
"It's a great part of town, I can understand why people want to be here."
In the Hunter Valley, Cessnock had two properties sell for more than $1 million last month but remains an affordable option for young families.
Belle Property Cessnock's Brendan King believes the rise of working from home could see it become an increasingly popular destination.
"At the moment we're getting huge numbers at all open homes," Mr King said.
"We had one in Bellbird on a main road that in a six-month turnaround period [added] $100,000 without anything being touched.
"If we have 20 people at an open home, 10 are investors and 10 are owner-occupiers so there's a very strong push from Sydney investors predicting the Hunter is a spot that's going to grow."
The Rising Star report used five key metrics to make its determinations: sales volumes, quarterly price growth, vacancy rates, rental growth and infrastructure spending.
