Property market outlook 2022: Newcastle Hunter region

Katrina Reye

[Transcript]

I think 2022 will be a great year for the Hunter region. We’ve been experiencing a very strong property market.

There was significant increase in property prices, lots of activity and transactions in the property market.

There are a number of important projects in the Hunter region. Newcastle Airport Williamtown site is a declared a special activation precinct.

In addition to that, Newcastle City Council has indicated that in 2021 there was a 20% increase in their approved DAs. And 1.8 billion of DA work that was approved in Newcastle. So if that occurred in 2021, we expect to see very strong levels of construction in 2022.

There are other important organisations in Newcastle. For example, the University of Newcastle, and they will see international students return, post-COVID.

Newcastle does also have some challenges coming up. There has been announcements that, there will be a couple of power stations closing between now and 2025. But we expect that that will bring a lot of activities in the renewable space.

Hall & Wilcox supports the Newcastle community in a lot of ways. We are a major sponsor of the Property Council. I am a committee member of the Hunter chapter, and we are involved in local advocacy relating to the property industry.

In addition to that, Hall & Wilcox provides legal services, but also sponsorship and other support to local charities.

We also provide pro bono legal assistance at various legal services clinics for underprivileged people.

We lease premises in Newcastle. We employ staff in Newcastle.

It's important to note that that local office is backed by a national 900-person firm with more than a hundred partners.