The price cycle is predicted to ease and become much “flatter” while interest rates will go down.

Housing Industry Association economist Diwa Hopkins said the region had experienced widespread growth in property wealth, especially in the south, during the last 12 months.

Ms Hopkins said what was most “striking” were the gains in Kiama, which she thinks could be down to a turnover of holiday homes.

In the three months to March this year the median house price in Kiama was at $806,050, a rise of 27.9 per cent in one year.

Unit prices in Shellharbour were the only Illawarra Local Government Area (LGA) to beat that price rise with the median at $555,000, a jump of 38.8 per cent since the same time last year.

However homebuyers can wipe the sweat from their brow as price growth was a little slower everywhere else.

Shellharbour houses were up 10.5 per cent and 16.3 per cent in Wollongong, while Wollongong units stayed level at a median of $450,000 in the past year.

Domain Group chief economist Andrew Wilson said in the short-term prices would rise, due to investors snapping up property before potential changes to negative gearing, though long-term the cycle would become much flatter.

“We’re not going to have the waves of highs and lows that we’ve had, which has basically been driven by the mining boom over the last decade or two,” he said.

“It means there [will be] more certainty and predictability in our cycles and I think buying and selling decisions will become more personal decisions, rather than because of the state of the market.”

Dr Wilson also said interest rates weren’t heading north any time soon and predicted another rate drop in September.

“We’d need an economic miracle to start pushing interest rates up and that;s just not going to happen,” he said.

With many lenders pushing discounted rates Dr Wilson said it’s never been as good as it is now for homebuyers.

“Other advance economies have had interest rates way lower than that for years and years now since the GFC, it’s just that we’ve had the mining boom to keep us ticking over but that’s finished,” he said.

“If you can get something in the 400,000s or 500,000s and you’ve got a 4 per cent loan it’s almost irresistible.”