Rural property market holds steady
Values of rural properties within a 2.5 hour drive from Sydney are holding their ground, according to PRDnationwide.
Despite the general housing marketing recording a downward trend, prices of rural properties have remained relatively stable, PRDnationwide’s Greater Sydney Rural Lifestyle Properties report found.
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The report investigates two segments of the rural market – smaller holdings classified as ‘residential rural’ properties between 0.4ha and 4ha, and larger ‘rural lifestyle’ properties ranging in lot size between 10 and 40 hectares.
“Smaller size rural lots have proven to be a popular choice for buyers from both city and country areas,” PRDnationwide research analyst Oded Reuveni Etzioni said.
“Rural residential lots are often located closer to urban areas with both the size of improvements and scarcity of land increasing the pressures on prices.
Regional areas drawing the most buyers of rural properties under 10 acres are Kenthurst, Dural, Medowie and Londonderry.
Mr Reuveni Etzioni said while the rural market was likely to remain subdued for some time, the outlook was positive.
Like most property markets nationally – sales volumes of rural properties have been flat or fallen.
“While overall activity remained stable over the past five years ‘rural residential’ properties averaged an increase of 1.1 per cent per annum and ‘rural lifestyle’ properties decreased by 4.7 per cent,” he said.
“Sydneysiders will continue to seek a place in the country that they can escape the city rush to and those rural plots which are close enough to allow for recreational and maintenance activities to be done on weekends and during holiday periods will be most sought after,” he said.