In the last two weeks, The Daily Advertiser has reported at least three house fires all located in pockets of Ashmont. 

David Ohlsen has been living in Ashmont for 37 years and said the spate of crimes has made him “very angry” and is worried someone will eventually get hurt. 

“I really do feel that our real estate has plummeted or dropped because it’s got a tarnished name,” Mr Ohlsen said. 

“Whenever crime happens, it always seems to happen in Ashmont and sometimes Tolland. 

“I’ve tried to put my place on the market and even though it has been renovated throughout, I had a real estate agent value it who said it is at the market value.” 

Mr Ohslen said he wished he knew the answer on how to “clean up” the suburb. 

“If you want to sell your Ashmont home, you have to be patient, leave it on the market and hope and pray,” he said. 

“I’ve already had three friends who have had their cars stolen and burnt out and you get really angry. 

“People are losing thousands of dollars and what are these people getting out of it, because someone will soon get hurt.” 

A working professional, who wished to remain anonymous, has decided to move out of Ashmont following the spate of crimes in the past weeks.

“Particularly the house fires are concerning,” he said.

“It feels like the more incidents there are, the more it feels like it could get closer and closer to my street.

“I am more conscious of what could happen when I leave the house.”

The 31-year-old said even though he has locks in place, it may not be enough.

“Despite the rise, I know there are decent people who are also just trying to get by every day without any trouble,” he said. 

Independent property valuer Chris Egan said it is “such a shame” that government homes are being torched, which he said are “assets” to the public. 

“Ashmont is a suburb of two halves and part of the suburb is not affected by housing commission,” he said. 

“But generally, increased crime in any regional town or suburb would decrease the saleability of any place. 

“However, a low saleability can mean that a suburb is tightly held and doesn’t necessarily mean a negative thing, but in Ashmont it could be because of the crime.” 

Mr Egan said it can be hard to talk about the negative aspects of a suburb, because it can lead to further negativity. 

“It’s a shame when you get clusters of housing commission and people don’t respect it and destroy it, because it is at a tax payer’s expense,” he said. 

According to the Fitzpatricks Property Report 2018, Tolland, Ashmont and Mount Austin had the lowest median house price, with Ashmont recording the lowest percentage of sales by the agency at 11.11 per cent. 

Some of the more notable sales in commercial real estate, showed that a site on Ashmont Avenue, 16-20 (former Dahlsens Building Centre) with vacant possession, sold at $950,000. 

Fitzpatricks sales consultant director Paul Gooden, who also lives in Ashmont, said the crime has not had a completely “detrimental effect” on the suburbs property market. 

“Ashmont has experienced high growth in the last 12 to 24 months, because of the low-median house price,” Mr Gooden said. 

“It’s not just isolated to Ashmont and there’s been some great gains here.

“We have seen severe disruption in Kooringal Avenue and Tolland and as an agent, most suburbs in Wagga have social disruption in public housing areas.” 

Mr Gooden said despite these pockets of social disruption, Wagga’s population is “quite mobile”. 

“The value of houses in regional centres are defying capital city trends,” Mr Gooden said.