Although the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be slowing momentum in the Illawarra, prospective buyers with stable employment could now have greater access to the property market, one expert says.
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Domain senior research analyst, Dr Nicola Powell believed regional markets would hold up better than capital cities through the pandemic.
"When you look at the performance of Sydney versus regional NSW, what we've seen over the June quarter is regional prices went up, whereas in Sydney over the quarter they went down," she said.
"The Illawarra area, the coastal areas are going to hold up better than their respective capital cities, so I think the outlook is much better for the Illawarra compared to Sydney."
The recently released Domain House Price Report for the June quarter includes figures for the Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama local government areas.
As of June this year, Kiama LGA houses had a median price of $905,775, compared to $820,000 a year prior, a 10.5 per cent increase.
Shellharbour houses had a median price of $625,000 as of June 2020, up from $610,000 in 2019.
Wollongong houses had a median price of $725,000, compared to $675,000 a year prior. This was an increase of 7.4 per cent.
Wollongong units had a median price of $533,375 as of June this year; this figure was $535,000 a year earlier.
Dr Powell said there were measures in place to help stop prices falling, such as government stimulus, mortgage holidays and low rates, which were all helping to support the market.
"Prices are still rising in the Illawarra region, but I think we are seeing that momentum slow down," she said.
"So I think for any buyer out there that has that job security, I think perhaps now we're seeing a bit of opportunity for them to get on to the property market.
"If people have job security, access to the market could be improved."
In the Illawarra, Dr Powell said all three areas are still recording annual growth.
"Kiama seems to be the strongest market out of the three," she said.
"Historically, these three areas did go through a period of softening, so they did see price falls over 2019, and they were into their next rebound and recovery.
"But what we have seen is that even though Shellharbour and Kiama reported quarterly growths, I think we've seen a bit of momentum come out of that market in terms of the pace of that growth.
"The June quarter is really the first three months where we've seen the true impacts of COVID-19, it captures that full lockdown. So we're seeing regional areas hold up better, but I think we will see momentum fall away."
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