With the mesmerising outlook and crystal clear waters of Currarong right in front of you, it's easy to see why this location is so tightly held.
            

29 Walton Way, Currarong
Bed 4 | Bath 3 | Car 2
Price: $4m
AGENCY: Ray White Gerringong, 4234 4000
AGENT: Kate Morgan, 0423 559 909
INSPECT: By appointment


                At the heart of the home is an open plan lounge, dining, kitchen area which opens to your outdoor terrace, creating the perfect place to relax and enjoy those stunning Currarong views.
            



                As this opens to your backyard and Currarong Creek, it makes the perfect games room, teenage retreat or self contained accommodation.
            

                Approximately 2.5 hours' drive south of Sydney, the seaside village of Currarong offers the perfect place to explore nature, with good surf breaks, top fishing spots and crystal clear water to swim, snorkel or dive - or enjoy one of the local bushwalks around the breathtaking headland.
            

                There is also a boat ramp, general store and cafe/restaurant at Currarong.
            

                Whether you're looking for a relaxing place to call home or a weekend retreat, it's ready for you to move in and make your own.
            

                Don't let this opportunity pass you by - properties this good don't come along often!
            
By ACM - This article first appeared on The Illawarra Mercury

Feature Property: Rare waterfront retreat in Currarong

However, the negative perception has largely shifted, and in recent times the beachside town's property market has been on the rise as generations discover - or rediscover - the town's benefits.



He said Port Kembla was a trendy place to be now, and "becoming more so too".
            

                "I think people have realised what's here," Mr Truter said.
            

                "We've got one of the best beaches in the Illawarra.
            

                "Being a café owner and a business owner... I've been to a lot of other cafés (in other places), and people that see each other every day don't tend to say hello.
            

                "But in Port Kembla, they do. In Port Kembla, you know their name, you say hello to everyone and it really has a community feel."
            

                 Port Kembla was hit hard by the economic downturn in the 1980s, and by the expansion of neighbouring Warrawong.
            

                While the steelworks is still running, it employs a fraction of the workers it once did.
            

                In the past, the town had a less than desirable reputation in the eyes of many, due to its crime rate, dilapidated buildings and sex worker trade.
            

                Being from the Illawarra, Mr Truter was aware of this perception when moving there and establishing his business.
            

                "I think the view that people have had of the place isn't what it is (now)," he said.
            

                "Maybe 15 years ago in the bad old days, but not any more."

Vesna Mitrovic, 30, has lived her entire life so far in Port Kembla.
            

                Mrs Mitrovic, who works at the University of Wollongong, and husband Dean, an insurance consultant, own a home in Port Kembla, and also recently bought an investment property in Forster Street.
            

                "The beach is the main reason, and also just being a central location - close to Wollongong and Shellharbour," she said of Port Kembla's appeal.
            

                The couple feel the suburb had undergone a transformation for the better in recent times, with plenty of development and investment taking place.
            

                "In recent times it's been cleaned up a lot, especially the stores in Wentworth Street," Mrs Mitrovic said.
            

                "There's a lot of nice pop-up cafes there."
            

                The couple believed that in the past it was an older demographic that were looking to live in Port Kembla, but in recent times many younger couples were seeking to invest or reside there.
            

                "It was a working-class suburb predominantly; a lot of people that worked in the steelworks and that type of industry," Mr Mitrovic said.
            

                "You had that generation 15-20 years ago where a lot of people moved out to the newer suburbs like Flinders. But now you've got a generation of people where they're seeing the value in Port Kembla.
            

                "You can't really drive into a street in Port Kembla now without seeing a knockdown-rebuild or a renovation."
            

                The Mitrovics said it had been challenging to buy an investment property in the suburb, and they had missed out on a few to Sydney buyers.
            

                "It's just going up and up - for us, it was a matter of getting in while we could, before it gets out of reach," he said.
            

                David North, secretary of Port Kembla Chamber of Commerce said while Port Kembla's CBD had been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, "it really is a lovely place to be".
            

                "It's very community-centred," he said. "The people that live there are concerned about what happens in their suburb.
            

                "It's become an artistic hub as well; there's the Red Point Artists Association, photographers in the (main) street.
            

                "In terms of houses, nothing stays on the market very long, and the big thing seems to be the knockdown-rebuild."
            

                 Market overview
            

                Martine Dippre from Kore Property Group described Port Kembla as "the new Surry Hills of the south".
            

                "I used to sell in Surry Hills and Redfern when people were just starting to take notice of it and all these suburbs offered," she said.
            

                "I can see Port Kembla heading in the same direction with the same intensity of demand those areas had in the early days."
            

                Ali Yagmur from Domain Illawarra Real Estate said the changing face of Wentworth Street was helping to improve the suburb's image.
            

                "Eventually, Wentworth Street will be a bit like Newtown - it will become very trendy," he said.
            

                Mr Yagmur said many first home buyers had been pushed out of the Port Kembla market by the prices.
            

                He said it was popular with second and third home buyers.
            

                "A lot of the European families that were first there, the ones who were working at the steelworks, now all of a sudden their kids go, 'wow, we've got the beaches, the pool, the industry is closing down so it's a lot cleaner'," he said.
            

                "Their parents lived there, and now the kids are wanting to come back in.
            

                "It's a beautiful little spot, we're getting a lot of Sydney-siders, the market has gone crazy with the prices. It's a very hot suburb."
            

                 For sale
            

                According to CoreLogic, the median sales price of houses in the area is $673,750.
            

                The median sales price in the suburb jumped from$549,950 at the start of 2017to $635,000 a year later.
            

                Recent sales in Port Kembla include 7 Third Avenue, Port Kembla for $875,000; 60 Donaldson Street for $805,000; and 12a Surfside Drive for $1.9 million.


                 3/34 Surfside Drive, Port Kembla.
            

                Brendan Mitrovski from One Agency Elite Property Group Illawarra is the selling agent for 3/34 Surfside Drive, Port Kembla.
            

                The two-bedroom, one-bathroom townhouse has a price guide of $640,000.
            

                He said the property was attracting a lot of first home buyer interest and some investors.
            

                "There's ocean views from that property, and it's in a great spot," Mr Mitrovski said.
            

                 19 Second Avenue, Port Kembla.
            

                Among Ali Yagmur's new listings is 19 Second Avenue, Port Kembla.
            

                The five-bedroom, three-bathroom house is situated minutes from Port Kembla Beach.
            

                It's for sale via expressions of interest, with a price guide of $1.5 million.
            

                 2/20 Church Street, Port Kembla.
            

                Also on the market is a two-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse at 2/20 Church Street, Port Kembla.
            

                It has a price guide of $629,000, and is located minutes from Port Kembla's main street cafes and shops.
            

                The selling agent is Rade Brbevski from Ray White.
            
Photo Credit: Anthony Biasia, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

By Brendan Crabb - This article first appeared in the Newcastle Herald

Why this working-class suburb could be the next Surry Hills

The bank has released a list of regional areas where it's still cheaper to buy, including Orange and Dubbo in NSW, Warrnambool in Victoria and Launceston in Tasmania.


                In Orange, you can save $294 a month by buying. The median rent there clocks in at $2,044 but mortgage payments are $1,750.
            

                In Victoria's Warrnambool it is $194 cheaper to buy than rent, with a monthly median rental of $1,881 and monthly median mortgage repayment of $1,687.
            

                In Launceston, high rents of $2,157 meant that it was cheaper to service a mortgage, calculated at $2105, but only just, with $52 separating the two.
            

                In calculating where a mortgage beats out renting, the bank assumed a homebuyer would borrow 80 per cent of the property's price at a rate of 2.69 per cent per annum - meaning homebuyers would need to stump up 20 per cent of the property's cost upfront.
            

                They used median rental and house price data sourced from CoreLogic to then calculate the difference between the two payments, focusing on major population centres outside of capital cities.
            

                Where NAB says it makes more sense to buy than rent
            


                "House prices are rising but there's still plenty of opportunities for Australians to buy their dream home rather than rent it. The simple reason for this is the record low rates on offer, with many mortgage rates still coming with a 2 in front of them," Mr Kerr said.
            

                A similar study was recently conducted by CoreLogic in July, although that survey assumed a lower 2.4 per cent mortgage rate.


                Housing sentiment
            

                The number of Australians who believe that it is a good time to buy a home has fallen in the second quarter of 2021, according to NAB.
            

                Just 29 per cent agreed that now is a good time to buy, down from 40 per cent in Q1.
            

                Sentiment took the biggest dive in Queensland (down 21 points to 23 per cent) and the ACT (down 20 points to 24 per cent).
            

                Those surveyed who said they intend to buy a home in the next 12 months fell to 13 per cent, down from 15 per cent in Q1.
            
By Jack Needham - This article first appeared on ACM

Major bank reveals where it's cheaper to buy than rent

Startup OwnHome aims to eschew the traditional deposit-saving phase by purchasing a property on behalf of an individual and then renting it back to them for a set period while they accrue 'equity points' of 2.5 per cent of the purchase price each year.


                This theoretically allows them, in a rising market, to capitalise on any additional capital gains realised during the rental period.
            

                "Customers realise all of the growth rate," co-founder Tim Harley said, pointing to recent price growth rates in Sydney.
            

                Monthly payments are calculated at 7.05 per cent of the original purchase price, on a per annum basis.
            

                Monthly payments are "roughly equivalent" to what someone saving for a similar property might pay by renting and saving money each month, although the company acknowledges they could be more expensive in some situations.
            

                The company recently began taking expressions of interest from prospective homebuyers in Sydney and surrounding regions.
            

                Co-founder James Bowe said that within 10 days of expressions opening,130 applications had been received.
            

                While applicants had "disproportionately been in Sydney", there had been applicants seeking housing in Wollongong and Newcastle.
            

                The company is initially planning to work with clients looking for property in the Wollongong, Newcastle and Sydney markets as well as parts of the Blue Mountains.
            

                "I think there has been a fundamental shift coming out of COVID-19 that has put a premium on space a place of work, school and their living space. [In addition] work dynamics have shifted and what was previously too long of a commute has changed," Mr Bowe said.
            

                Sicona Battery Technology founder Christiaan Jordaan is hoping that OwnHome will allow him to relocate to Wollongong, where his pilot manufacturing facility is based, without needing to rent another property.
            

                "It couldn't have come at a better time," he said.
            

                 Christiaan Jordaan is hoping to use OwnHome to secure a property in Wollongong. Photo: Supplied
            

                Mr Jordaan explained that the majority of his savings had been tied up in his business, which is in the startup phase, meaning he would need to spend time saving for a deposit before he could consider buying in the fast-moving Wollongong market.
            

                "We invested all of our savings into a startup that we're looking to commercialise," he said
            

                "All of my wealth and all of my capital is tied up in the capital in the company," he said, adding that he was now at a stage where he was able to draw a salary from the company.
            

                Despite a higher monthly cost, renting-to-buy meant that Mr Jordaan and his family would gain the "stability" a rental can't offer.
            

                "The idea would be to know I've got a house which I can call my own," he said.
            

                "Now more than ever we want to get out of this apartment," he added.
            

                Under the OwnHome model, they wouldn't be subject to the same restrictive rules as a tenancy, Mr Jordaan said.
            

                "For my wife and I, we are thinking of starting a family. We want to have a bit of a garden... we've wanted to get a dog for so long," he said.
            

                Although Mr Jordaan doesn't need to come up with a deposit under the OwnHome model, he would still need to pay a 1.5 per cent 'starter fee' and a 1 per cent 'settlement fee', which counts toward his equity credit.
            

                Finder Home Loans Editor, Sarah Megginson said that products like OwnHome could work for certain buyers, but that prospective customers should make an individual assessment based on their financial situation.
            

                "They suit a certain person, or a certain market, [but] the really important thing [to understand] is that you're going to pay a premium for the service," she said.
            

                The product was a form of "forced savings," Ms Megginson said, and allowed buyers to "pay a premium" in order to get a foot on the property ladder now instead of waiting.
            

                She advised buyers interested in platforms like OwnHome to consider their exit options should they experience a change in circumstances and to "read the fine print".
            

                Mr Harley said that OwnHome customers who no longer wished to live in their property could choose to exercise the option, get a mortgage and then rent the property out, or sell their "value-accrued" option on to another customer.
            
By Jack Needham - this article first appeared in The Illawarra Mercury

Australian rent-to-buy startup courting regional homebuyers

Key regional areas outpaced Sydney and Melbourne’s property price growth during July, but the market is showing clear signs of tapering.

Regional house prices still growing, but repeat of record figures unlikely

Regional house prices have been the major winner of the COVID-19 pandemic and the end of lockdown could see values grow further before the year is out.

Sydney lockdown could lead to new wave of demand for regional property, economist says

Pristine land in a rainforest featuring creeks and waterfall – 160 Red Cedar Lane, Berry is for sale with a price guide of $4.2 million.

Home of the Week | 160 Red Cedar Lane, Berry

Open inspections are banned across Orange’s property market but buyers are continuing to snap up homes without stepping foot over the threshold.

Virtual open homes helping Orange property market continue to boom

Cessnock is closing in on its first $1 million sale for a non-acreage home after the $875,000 result for a house in the city’s Stonebridge Living Estate.

Cessnock heading towards $1 million residential sale as interest increases

Record-low interest rates are fuelling a housing boom across the country, but one part of the market is lagging behind.

Oversupply, pandemic hit Sydney, Melbourne apartment rents

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many to re-evaluate their circumstances, including where they live, work schedule and lifestyle.

Propertyology identities the Illawarra as a popular location for work-from-home

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