Q&A with NSW Valuer General Sally Dale on land valuations

The valuer general Sally Dale answers your need to know questions.

Transcript

00:00What sort of trends are we seeing with land values across NSW?

00:07Well across NSW we have seen an increase this year at 6.4% and that was largely underpinned

00:15by residential and industrial real estate. Commercial and rural saw, they did see an

00:22increase but it was much smaller. And what have we seen happen in Greater Sydney?

00:28Greater Sydney, a mixed bag. Residential properties have seen some significant increases

00:36in the areas like the eastern suburbs, Woollahra and Waverley. I think Woollahra we saw a 20%

00:44increase. Then if we go to the further out areas like Fairfield and Blacktown we did

00:49also see some significant increases out there and I think that's because properties are

00:53more affordable in those locations.

00:57Aerotropolis for example, is that sort of driving?

01:01Definitely around that Fairfield area, Aerotropolis, but we're also seeing increases in industrial

01:08land. Not so much in the Aerotropolis itself but local government areas like Woolloondilly

01:14which are on good transport routes and not far from the new Western Sydney Aerotropolis

01:19areas. We have seen some significant increases in industrial.

01:24What are we seeing in the City of Sydney specifically?

01:27City of Sydney overall across all property types has seen an increase. The CBD in particular,

01:33I know there's been a lot of media attention on the CBD with vacancy rates, but Sydney

01:40as a whole is still a desirable location for investors, large investors. So there's been

01:48a flight to A-grade quality office space which has underpinned that remaining strength

01:56in Sydney. Whilst the increases haven't been large, there has been a small increase in

02:01Sydney. Other CBDs in the Sydney metro areas such as Parramatta and North Sydney, it's

02:08probably a different story. They have seen higher, well they have actually seen a decrease

02:14in comparison to Sydney. And I think that's due to higher vacancy rates.

02:21Coastal areas of New South Wales, what sort of trends are we seeing there?

02:26Coastal areas overall have seen an increase, but this year for residential, the increases

02:33were only marginal. And interestingly, where we have seen the increases are those areas

02:39closer to Sydney. So areas like the Central Coast, Lake Macquarie, Newcastle, South Coast,

02:45a bit of a different story. We did see some small decreases around Kiama and the Shoalhaven

02:52area.

02:54What about regional parts of New South Wales? What sort of trends are we seeing there?

02:59Overall, an increase. Interestingly, some areas in the further western parts of New

03:05South Wales for residential property have seen quite significant increases, but that

03:11is often off a lower base. And obviously that's because of more affordable housing.

03:19Industrial again is very driven by the local economy and what's happening. So areas where

03:26the inland rail, we have seen some increases in some of those areas where the inland rail

03:31has come through and also where there's mining, strong mining sector.