The southern Illawarra region of Jamberoo is synonymous with dairy farms and lush rolling, green hills.
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Its close proximity to Kiama’s beaches plus the shopping and lifestyle of nearby Shellharbour and Wollongong make it a prime location to create your own private sanctuary.
House prices vary from around $700,000 to beyond $3 million, with the median for a four-bedroom house currently at $885,000.
Ray White Kiama director Michele Lay said despite what some people may think, buyers are not all Sydneysiders looking for a hobby farm.
Ms Lay said the “sense of community”, larger property sizes and recent subdivisions in the past year were very attractive to Illawarra buyers, with outsiders only accounting for around 11 per cent of sales.
“I think Jamberoo’s always been very highly sought after because of that country feel. Historically the land sizes are larger than what you would get in the suburbs,” she said.
“I think having the best of all worlds is really attractive, and I think Jamberoo has a real sense of community still, which is often sought but rarely found … and we’re starting to see younger people flock there as well.”
The majority of buyers hail from other parts of the Illawarra wanting to downsize and take advantage of newly subdivided blocks or upsize to something with acreage.
“With the larger parcels of land there’s a leaning towards sustainability, people love to have vegie patches and chickens, and horses ...''
Ms Lay said the types of properties currently on the market are “as diverse as ever” partly due to recent land subdivisions such as a townhouse off-the-place at 1/15 O’Mara Place.
The four-bedroom, double-storey home with two bathrooms sits on 362 square metres of “easy care land”, within walking distance to the town. It’s on the market for $749,000.
Buyers wanting more room to move may be interested in 100 acres at Clover Hill Road: a four-bedroom home with private waterfalls, ocean views and quirky sculptures. It’s on the market for $2.8 million.
“There’s a lot of people, rather than moving out of the area, they’re just upsizing or downsizing,” she said.
“With the larger parcels of land there’s a leaning towards sustainability, people love to have vegie patches and chickens, and horses, I think a lot of people are changing they’re lifestyles … and Jamberoo attracts that type of person.”