Tamworth house prices expected to plateau, but not follow cities into negative territory

But local real estate agents don't expect that will be the case in Tamworth.

According to the latest CoreLogic data, New England North West houses still grew 2.4 per cent over the last month in terms of the Home Value Index, however that's well down from the dizzying heights which have been seen in recent times.

Regional property trends tend to follow that of the cities by roughly six months, although LJ Hooker Tamworth real estate agent Sam Spokes said he doesn't believe the local market will go into negative territory.

"My honest thoughts are our market will start to plateau when it comes to price increases, rather than running at the 7 to 10 per cent growth we've had over the previous two years," he said.

"I think prices will start to level, I don't believe we'll go into the minuses, I just think we'll plateau in that if your price is worth $500,000 now, it may still be worth $500,000 in six months."

He said he expects growth to return to between 2 to 3 per cent annually.

He doesn't think this will deter investors however, even with the recent rise in interest rates from .1 per cent to .35 per cent.

"I think there's still a lot of people looking to regional to buy properties, especially investment properties, because even though interest rates are marked to go up, they are still very low interest."

He said variable interest rates have still been going down over the past few months, and given it's possible to get a variable interest loan under 2 per cent at the moment, people will still be looking to buy.

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Tamworth Junior Business Chamber member Shonia Poole is currently in the process of buying her first home, and said she had considered putting off the process to see if prices would stabilise or go down.

But in the end, she said it wasn't worth waiting to see if the rising interest rates will lower inflation, and wanted to get the most bang for her buck now.

"I think people will be hesitant. I think inflation will have a lot to do with it because, in my personal experience, I did think about waiting six months," she said.

"But it came down to 'is the cash I have in the bank going to be worth as much in six months as it is now'."

She also said, even if house prices start to hold steady in the region or go down, she doesn't believe they'll get anywhere near as low as they used to be, so people may wait but the difference would be minimal.

She does however expect some people will wait until after May's election to make their decision on buying a house.

"I believe while house prices may fall, I personally wouldn't expect the fall in house prices to be at the level that the increase was, I wouldn't expect it to be a dramatic decrease," she said.

"The way the cash rates and interest rates are increasing, personally, I've been watching the market and watching what's going on in the country, I think the election is going to have a hell of a lot to do with how house prices are going."

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