The idyllic beach town near Sydney where house values rose 45 per cent

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Central Coast house values are nearly at a pandemic-era high, as buyers look for affordable housing and a relaxed beach lifestyle within a commutable distance to Sydney.

The house market in the Central Coast is up 45.1 per cent over five years to reach a median price of $1,063,372, Cotality data to the end of November shows.

Sunrise at Umina Beach on the Central Coast. House values in the region are nearly at a pandemic-era high,

The cost to buy the median house on the Central Coast is now inching closer to its April 2022 record of $1,067,901, after jumping 6.1 per cent over the past year.

“The big boom in housing values across the Central Coast, like with most major regional centres, happened between early 2020 and many markets found a high in early 2022 just before interest rates started rising,” Cotality head of Australian research Eliza Owen said.

“Then there was a short, sharp decline in property values between early 2022 and early 2023 and values have been gradually recovering since.”

The Central Coast unit market also jumped in the past five years, to hit a record $738,432. Over that time, the cost to buy a median unit rose 38.7 per cent and in the past year, unit prices have ticked up 5.7 per cent.

Belle Property Central Coast owner Catherine Baker observed the market stabilise after pandemic-era highs, and lows, when interest rates were higher.

“We’ve gone right back to the more traditional real estate market,” she said.

The Reserve Bank’s February 2025 cut to the cash rate was its first since November 2020. It made two more through 2025. This, alongside low supply and government first-home buyer incentives helped boost competition and prices.

The acceleration and normalisation of remote work early in the pandemic helped push up prices in many “relatively affordable areas”, Owen said. Historically, movers to the Central Coast were downsizers.

“But nowadays, a lot of younger people don’t have a choice. If they want to buy a family home, they need to start looking outside of Sydney,” she said.

“So the Central Coast, Newcastle, and even as far as the Hunter has become a lot more normalised for young families to look at as options.”

Ray White Umina Beach agent Jackson White said city-dwellers were looking at units and townhouses in the area.

“There seems to be a lot of buyers for those kinds of properties over houses, and they’re all from Sydney,” he said. “They’re downsizing their big house.”

Lynn and Martin Skewes, both 67, are Umina Beach locals who have seen their Central Coast town change in the 39 years since they bought their family home where they raised their three now-adult daughters.

Lynn and Martin Skewes have no plans to ever leave Umina Beach.

The train trip to Sydney has become a little faster and new townhouses are being built, but Umina Beach’s community spirit and coastal lifestyle has remained.

“Just walk out the door, and you’re virtually on the beach, and you can go fishing, surfing, paddling … it’s right up my alley,” said Martin, a former firefighter and a keen surfer.

When it came time to downsize, staying in the area was a no-brainer for the couple, who have no plans to leave Umina Beach. They recently sold the family home and bought a two-bedroom townhouse with water views.

Lynn and Martin Skewes with their dogs Arlo and Chilly.

The prospective buyers for their former home, slightly inland, were a “very diversified group”, said Lynn, spanning locals and people from Sydney and Canberra.

Lynn, who works in the club industry, said they bought a townhouse one row of housing back from the beach, which was more affordable.

“Anything on the beachside is definitely a lot more expensive,” she said.

According to Cotality data, the cost of the median unit in Umina Beach now sits at $940,606, while a house will set you back $1,179,807.

The influx of Sydneysiders looking for a beachside home with accessibility to the city had helped to push up prices in Umina Beach, said White, the Skewes’ selling agent.

But, it had also meant more amenities and big-name stores.

“It used to be a sleepy town with just your local cafe, your local newsagency, your takeaway store,” he said.

“The people coming up here have helped us to have those bigger chains because that’s what they expect. They have that in Sydney, they want that here.”

Overall the top Central Coast suburbs for dwelling growth over five years span some more affordable spots, including Lake Munmorah, where dwelling prices jumped 64.3 per cent to $860,045. Toukley rose 63.0 per cent to $899,452 and Watanobbi rose 59.8 per cent to $793,879.

Owen said that “a lot of buyer demand has been skewed”, to the more affordable end of spectrum.

The northern end of the coast was more budget-friendly, Baker said, especially to first home buyers.

“Anything from Bateau Bay, north, has been the fastest growth corridor of the Central Coast, mainly because of the affordability.”