While PRDnationwide’s latest home buyer and investor guide lists Wagga behind Tamworth, Maitland and Shoalhaven in the NSW category, a median house price of $340,000 and median unit price of $220,000 was still enough to land the city in eastern states’ top 10. 

By comparison, Tamworth - the most affordable NSW town in the report – has a median house price of $325,000 and a median unit price of $193,000.

On the other end of the scale, Sydney's median house price reached $1.1 million earlier this year, while Melbourne's median price hit a record high of $826,000 earlier in the month. 

Leading local valuer Christopher Egan said it was not only affordability which had attracted people to relocate and buy houses in Wagga. 

“People also want to move here because the lifestyle is fantastic, you can drive anywhere easily and there’s plenty of youth sport and jobs along with good infrastructure,” he said.

“Just the other day someone said to me ‘Wagga really is NSW’s best kept secret’.

“I can't believe more people in Sydney and Melbourne don’t move here.

“Living in Wagga means you have such a higher disposal income which you can put towards your family instead of repayments.”

Mr Egan was also quick to note that local house prices would inevitably rise.

“We haven't had a rise in a long time but I can only see Wagga prices going one way and that’s up,” he said.

“But even if prices go up by 10 per cent or 15 per cent, we’ll still be far and away better off than places like Sydney.”

Meanwhile, PRDnationwide Wagga principal Simon Freemantle expects the good times to continue rolling within the local market.

“Having attended a seminar which featured Domain’s chief economist, we’re hearing that we’ll continue along this path for a while yet and that there isn’t going to be a bubble emerging here,” he said. 

Mr Freemantle added that while Wagga is constantly growing – with the report stating the city has seen respective annual growth levels of 6.3% for houses over the past 15 years – it’s growth remained sustainable. 

“Wagga isn't going to peak like Sydney, where growth is about 60,000 people a year,” he said. 

“There's still plenty of room for healthy growth.”