Griffith's Real Estate Agents Are Pleased With Strong Market Trends
Griffith’s commercial land values are going from strength to strength, having experienced a huge boost from last year, according to the latest NSW valuer general report.
Commercial values saw an overall 15.3 per cent hike in the Riverina, with Griffith experiencing one of the biggest increases taking 23 per cent of that in the years 2021 to 2022.
Only Bland shire surpassed that mark with 34.4 per cent.
Ray White sales specialist, Charlie Rovere, says Griffith has always had a strong commercial presence but demand is currently not being met due to a shortage of supply.
“Personally, I think interest in the commercial and industrial market is going to increase strongly throughout the year,” Mr Rovere said.
“We’re receiving good inquiry from people both in Griffith and beyond wanting to establish businesses here. But unfortunately, we don’t have much available to them.”
He attributes this to lengthy delays with the building of both commercial and residential property.
“This puts pressure on the existing market and is largely the result of a shortage of building materials. That’s having an effect right across the state and Griffith is not immune to this,” he said.
The flow on from that has seen the rental market become more expensive, with those in the process of building homes having to rent for longer.
“Some are having to wait as long as 12 months for their house to finish being built. That combined with more tradesmen and professionals relocating to Griffith, is putting pressure on the market.”
Mr Rovere said interest around buying houses has increased from where it was last year.
“It is good to see it picking up. In November we had a decline which probably came about due to interest rate increases. Since Christmas, we’ve picked up from that loss and we’re receiving solid inquiry from here as well as places like Darlington Point and Goolgowi. The whole Griffith area is remains very popular.”
Griffith Real Estate’s Tony Santolin says confidence in the local economy is continuing to increase which is a boon for land values.
“The sentiment in Griffith is very positive. It’s always been a prosperous and ambitious place. It’s a little isolated from the rest of the state but I still see good signs for the growth of the town,” Mr Santolin said.
“In past years, commercial and industrial values have been sleeping giants. More recently they have begun to awaken.
“But on the other hand, residential sales have been noticeably quiet in recent times. We’ve only had one sale since late last year which tells us the market hasn’t met what buyers are prepared to pay.
“The last sale was $287 dollars per square meter which is a 30 dollar drop from where it once was. What I think we’ll see is that if people want to sell, they’ll have to meet the market, which means prices could lower.
“But as we’ve seen before, I think it will be brief and will go up again,” Mr Santolin said.
According to the report, the Riverina saw a strong total land value of 45.7% between July 2021 and July 2022, rising from $27.9 billion to $40.6 billion.
