Wagga is currently experiencing a housing boom but property experts are concerned that land supply will not keep up with the demand.
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Buyers in Wagga have a “unique” choice of estates throughout Wagga, which cater to different land and building size needs, but a lack of land could see this come to an end.
Alatalo Bros sales manager Paul Eady said there Wagga is experiencing a “housing boom” but is concerned about the supply of land.
“Based on what land is already zoned for residential housing, if we don’t look at rezoning other land we may run out,” he said.
“I know council is working on rezoning more land and we all need to work together to ride on this wave of success, because this is a terrific thing for Wagga which is looking to grow to a population of 100,000.”
Despite backing onto the Juvenile Justice Centre, the relatively new and emerging College Estate in Turvey Park is giving choice to buyers.
“It’s a very niche sub division and limited in the number of blocks and typical of a redevelopment of inner-city sites,” Mr Eady said.
“I think what will happen is parcels of land will get redeveloped into smaller blocks and a push from council will see more inner-city developments.
“In College Estate, the prison owns the space adjacent to them, but we’ve got about 30 extra blocks for stage three and then basically that’s the end of that subdivision.”
While the land is smaller in inner-city developments, buyers have the opportunity to build their brand new home in arms-reach of the CBD.
“I think in Wagga we’re big enough to cater for a variety of block sizes and naturally with the redevelopment of central land there will be slightly smaller blocks,” Mr Eady said.
“These cater to retirees or young professionals and people are still happy to move out to the suburbs like Gobbagombalin and Estella for a bigger block.”
However, independent property valuer Chris Egan argued that Wagga City Council were not releasing land quick enough.
“Bourkelands is all done and builders are screaming for more land but council has not released land quick enough,” he said.
“We saw that 90 per cent of the Estella Rise subdivisions were sold in just three days.”
The property valuer agreed with Mr Eady and said a variety of estates scattered throughout the city gives people choice.
“The variety of estates give people different options to a range of budgets in older areas that aren’t far from central,” he said.
“You can understand in established suburbs that you have to pay a premium, but when a subdivision like this comes up people want to live there and build their dream and they don’t see the Juvenile Centre as a negative.
“Every block has positives and negatives and it just depends on how people perceive them in relation to each other.”
Mr Egan said the once Aussie dream of owning a quarter acre block has changed over the years.
“The demographics are changing from people wanting a quarter acre block to higher density and smaller living, which is being welcomed by the council,” he said.
“Council assists higher density as they get more contributors from the developers and higher rates.”