As crippling prices for modest family homes in Sydney draw the attention of the Reserve Bank of Australia, more eyes are turning beyond the Big Smoke for affordable options. As the cost of an unrenovated two-bedroom home passes the $900,000 mark, some buyers are voting with their feet and heading south. As our graphic, at right, shows - there’s value to be found and some Eurobodalla sellers are reporting increasing interest from Sydney buyers. JOSH GIDNEY reports.

Several Eurobodalla real estate agents are noticing the effects of high Sydney property prices on the coastal market.

Among them is LJ Hooker Moruya licensee, Janet Donnelly, who said the effects of high Sydney prices were strongly felt in the Eurobodalla.

“Never in the past have we had as much activity from Sydney buyers wishing to relocate to our area,” she said.

“They are looking at property priced $700,000 and up, either coastal or acreage, and also investors with units from $110,000, to houses around $300,000.

“This has opened our market (which was) previously heavily reliant on Canberra.”

Gayle Ferrier, licensed conveyancer at Batemans Bay-based South East Coast Conveyancing, said the Eurobodalla  market was already seeing the effects of Sydney’s high property prices.

“We do seem to be seeing people selling in Sydney and coming down here,” she said.

“With the money that would buy an average home up there, they can get something great here and also have enough left to have a good quality of life.”

She said the Eurobodalla was starting to see cashed up baby boomers arriving from Sydney.

“A lot of them have their super in their homes, so it is good if we can attract them to our coast,” she said.

She said the shire market had been “a little more consistent” over the past two years, after previous fluctuations, especially between seasons.

South Coast Property Specialists agent Melissa Franzen said median house prices in the Eurobodalla had mostly remained static or increased slightly (comparing the past four quarters to the previous four). 

“We have seen an increase of about 10 per cent in Batemans Bay and Catalina (of $330,000 and $350,000 respectively), while the popular southern beaches have seen strong performances, with Malua Bay and Sunshine Bay seeing the highest-ever median house prices of $440,000 and $442,000 respectively,” she said. 

“Things are steady in Moruya, with the median price of $330,000 up slightly from the previous period. 

“The south end of the shire is also seeing strong sales, with Narooma’s median house price a solid $390,000, up about 20 per cent.”

She said strong sales in Sydney generally translated into sales on the South Coast, as some buyers cashed out of their city lives “to make the sea/tree change, mortgage-free or with cash in the bank”.

However, Elders Batemans Bay agent John Haslem is unconvinced. He said Sydney’s prices had not yet had a strong effect on the Eurobodalla market.

“Historically, when there is a surge in Sydney, there is an increase in sales on this part of the coast, about six to nine months later, but there is no evidence this has happened,” he said.

“There seems a little more interest, but sales have been no higher.

“There are less places being sold than five or six years ago.

“There are normally about 45 sales a month in Batemans Bay and that has hardly moved for several years.

“It is still a buyer’s market.”

Mr Haslem gave examples of what a typical Sydney home price would buy in the Eurobodalla.

“There’s a very nice waterfront home in Malua Bay for $870,000, a cliff-top, four-bedroom home in north Malua Bay and a home on five acres at Long Beach,” he said.

“You can get a four-bedroom, 5000-square metre home here for the price of a two-bedroom unit on Sydney’s North Shore.”

LJ Hooker Batemans Bay’s Michael Skuse also gave examples of what one would get for a typical Sydney price in the Eurobodalla.

“You could buy four apartments, four two-bedroom villas, almost 10 blocks of land, a very nice house and two apartments, and a luxury beach front home,” he said.