IT has become quite standard for any town or city to measure its prosperity based on the growth of its local real estate market.
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And by that measure, Bathurst is clearly among the more prosperous cities in our state.
Figures released this week by Domain show Bathurst real estate prices grew about 1.7 percent in the June quarter, contributing to annual growth of more than eight per cent.
The Regional State of the Market Report also found that the median house price in Bathurst was now $417,000, a figure that would have seemed unthinkable just a few years ago.
Perhaps just as surprising to many local homeowners was the fact the median house price in Bathurst was now $47,000 more than neighbouring Orange and around $80,000 more than the median in Dubbo.
They are healthy numbers for the Bathurst market and the report is sure to put a smile on the face of all local home owners.
But even more pleasing for the region must be that these property prices continue to rise even as more and more homes are being built.
The Bathurst region has seen phenomenal development over the past decade particularly in the areas around Llanarth and Windradyne to the west of the city, Eglinton in the north-west and Laffing Waters to the east.
Thousands of new homes have been built in the past 10 years but it seems no matter how many new lots are released and how many new homes are built, the local real estate market can never keep pace with local population growth.
At a time when many regional centres are shrinking in size, Bathurst has maintained its reputation as one of the fastest growing cities in the state.
Bathurst’s population in 2016 had grown to 43,080 – up 1.86 per cent on a year earlier. That’s an extra 787 people in the Bathurst local government area and represents the region’s strongest annual population growth since 2009.
And jobs growth in Bathurst from 2015 to 2016 was 3.8 per cent, primarily driven by new jobs in the education and training, construction, wholesale trade and accommodation industries.
It all points to an economy – and a city – heading in the right direction.
Not that we needed the experts at Domain to tell us that.