Tamworth's industry grows, but housing shortage puts spanner in the works

The lack of suitable accommodations for the growing regional workforce is a pressing concern for developers keen on taking advantage of the area's booming industrial sector, according to @realty sales associate Stuart Watts.

"The problem right now is we've got this very, very acute shortage of rental properties for workers to move into," Mr Watts said.

Some work is already underway in addressing the region's housing shortfall, including council-led development initiatives, cutting red tape for short-term worker accommodation, and an idea to build upwards not outwards in the CBD.

But industry leaders have argued more needs to be done to address the housing problem as Tamworth's industrial sector continues growing at an "astounding" rate.

Mr Watts points to his recent record-breaking $7.5 million commercial property sale west of Tamworth as a testament to the region's remarkable industrial growth.

The realtor said the sale smashed the previous publicly-available record for Tamworth, a $5.2 million deal for a service station at Federation Park in Taminda.

"Three years ago this was a horse paddock, now it's likely the biggest passive commercial investment sale outside of Newcastle," Mr Watts said.

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Development company Hunter Land bought the 121-hectare site in Westdale back in 2007 for about $2 per square metre.

Now that land in the Tamworth Business Park is selling for up to $130 per square metre, Mr Watts says.

"When you're a commercial land developer, you have to speculate and sit on land for a while, but what they paid for this in 2007 and what we're achieving for it now in 2023 is quite phenomenal," he said.

Primarily a logistics hub, the Tamworth Business Park is located at the junction of New Winton Road and Oxley Highway, just minutes from the airport and the soon-to-be-completed Intermodal Freight Hub.

Mr Watts said over the course of his 12 years in Tamworth real estate he's seen commercial developers' appetite for sites outside the "safe" industrial sector in Taminda grow from practically nothing to an "undeniably vibrant market".

"We went through a period where we were very reliant on federal and state funding to get any sort of projects on the go and through the doubt of 2017 to 2019 it was all just local and government investment," he said.

Now Tamworth is starting to run on its own two feet, attracting investors from major metropolitan areas and setting itself up as the 'engine room' of Australia.

"I think we'll see more institutional and corporate investors here, driven by the renewable energy stuff as well, plus the Gateway Park presents a really nice opportunity to those who want to establish themselves close to what will be 10 to 15 years of development," the realtor said.

But in some ways the region could suffer from its own success, as business opportunities attract more migration from major metropolitan areas than the existing supply of housing can handle.

"Chances are Tamworth will have a job that's equivalent to what they've already got and they'll shift their families up here as well," Mr Watts said.

Despite the housing challenge, Mr Watts said he's confident Tamworth's future remains bright, with high-quality land available for development in the city's north, west, and south.

"Because we've got really high-quality available land, if the right companies want to take a lease on something that's purpose-built, therein lies more opportunity for all of us," he said.

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