Tamworth's property market tipped to cool after record year, but no relief for renters on horizon

But that won't necessarily mean any relief for renters, with prices tipped to stay at nose-bleed levels.

PRD Tamworth licensee in charge Mark Sleiman said experience told him the market would "plateau" over the next year.

Prices won't tank, and may even see modest rises, but the days of crowds of people turning up to every auction are at an end, he said.

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"It'll be your normal average rise this year, whereas the last two years it's been exceptional growth, over 30 per cent and 40 per cent in some areas" he said.

"We'll see our normal growth pattern in 2022. Some areas will have five per cent, other areas will have three per cent and some areas will have 10 per cent.

"We'll come back to normality this year, but the prices we have achieved will hold firm."

Meanwhile a rental shortage so acute it has created a "housing crisis" is tipped to escalate, with vacancy rates remaining at record-lows, Mr Sleiman said.

He said the property sector was eagerly anticipating an expected update of the Tamworth regional local environmental plan (LEP) by Tamworth Regional Council to allow more housing development to clear a supply shortage.

In particular, he wants relaxation of rules regulating minimum lot sizes.

"I know plenty of investors right now that have the money to build properties on their property," he said.

"They might have 1000 square-metre block in North Tamworth, they could build three units on it, but the LEP states you can only build two. And that two is not worth doing, but at three it is."

Tamworth Real Estate principal Graeme Mills said "certainly" rents won't go backwards, and there still isn't enough stock in agents' inventory to cover the buyer's market, either.

"I think rents certainly won't go backwards," he said.

"Talking to some of the guys I trust in the game, they're most probably like us. We've taken a steady approach about rent increases. Even though we've given rent increases, I think there's room for more increasing."

It's still unclear when record-low interest rates will return to normal levels, after years of economic stimulus.

After initially advising that rates would stay at 0.1 per cent into 2024 in the early days of the pandemic, the Reserve Bank last year conceded it would likely hike rates in 2023, to cool off an unexpectedly strong economic recovery.

Both Tamworth agents said the city's new buyers weren't over-leveraged in case of an interest rate hike. Both tipped interest from metro-based investors was likely to remain strong.

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