Overview
Affectionately known as The Gong, Wollongong lies 82 kilometres south of Sydney on a narrow coastal strip between the rugged Illawarra Escarpment and the sea. Coal mining attracted heavy industry to the area and consequently an influx of migrants from 70 countries since World War II. This multicultural population ensures Wollongong has a flourishing and diverse food scene, one of the city’s major attractions along with a string of 17 beautiful beaches. Offshore, lines of freighters pepper the horizon heading to or from the busy export port. As the steel industry in Wollongong has wound back, it has been replaced by a services-based economy. A thriving university, café culture, a bustling bar and nightlife scene, healthcare and aged care have sprung up as the major players in the Illawarra region.
Wollongong has a flourishing and diverse food scene, one of the city’s major attractions along with a string of 17 beautiful beaches.
GROWTH
The Wollongong Local Council has a population of 222,000 and is forecast to grow by 14.5% over the next 15 years to 254,000. Much of this growth is likely to be due to people exiting Sydney because of the lack of housing affordability, traffic congestion and long commute times. Population growth is limited in the northern suburbs due to the Illawarra Escarpment, so growth potential is mainly in the southern part of the region. The West Dapto area is a major centre of future growth with plans for 19,000 new dwellings and 50,000 more people within 40 years. New residential areas are also being developed further south around the West Dapto, Horsley and Shell Cove areas.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Wollongong has a regional airport, first class university, hospital and excellent schools. The University of Wollongong is ranked among the top two percent of universities globally and is rated as Australia’s leading public university for undergraduate experience. The university is currently planning a new health and wellbeing precinct for its Innovation Campus, due to open in 2024. Transport links are improving with a $600 million dollar bypass of Albion Park in construction, consisting of 9.8km of new dual-lane motorway. Shell Cove continues to develop with $78 million dollar apartments approved for Harbour Boulevard. The revitalisation of the suburb of Port Kembla and multi-million dollar upgrades to the Blue Mile harbour foreshore are progressing to improve local amenities. Planned growth of the Port of Port Kembla is expected to create hundreds of jobs and add millions of dollars to the local economy.
Dapto Town Centre will grow to a sub-regional centre in the coming years with major infrastructure to come
Highlight
PROPERTY PRICES
Property prices in the Greater Wollongong Area remain affordable, relative to Sydney, with the median house price just $691,500 in the suburb of Horsley, compared to $1,209,000 for Sydney. Over the last three years, Horsely has slowly grown at 2.3% per annum, while Residex projects the capital growth for Horsley to jump to 8% per annum over the next 5 years. From an investors perspective, Horsley is a strong performer on the rental yield with 4.9% being the average yield for houses over the last 10 years.
House prices in suburbs to the south of the Wollongong metro area remain attractively priced for investors while having stronger than average capital growth.
Sources
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