With a population of just 2,587 the agriculturally rich area of Carrathool is not likely to make it onto anyone’s list of property hotspots right? Well think again.

The area has just been identified by RP Data as one of the nation’s best performing regional areas with a 12-month growth of 35%.

The report shows that escalating confidence throughout capital cities nationwide has created a domino effect, driving regional values upward.

The highest performing areas, according to the report, are described as ‘small regional markets which are generally located in the non-coastal areas of the state’.

The top five included:

 

Area State Median Value 12-month growth
Carrathool NSW $128,939 35%
Weddin NSW $155,526 21.4%
Moora WA $230,782 21.3%
Coonamble NSW $125,825 20%
August-Margaret River WA $562,435 19.9%
 

“News of value growth across most markets over the year will be welcomed by the regional markets where in some cases they’ve been doing it tough,” RP Data research analyst Cameron Kusher says.

“These results suggest that it is not just the capital city housing markets that are benefiting from the low mortgage rate environment, so too are the regional areas.”

The report shows NSW and WA as each claiming 10 of the 25 top performing regions, followed by four in Victoria and one in South Australia.

On the flip side, Western Australia also reported some of the greatest falls in value, predominantly in mining towns that are no longer in their construction ‘boom’ phase.

“As the results show, we are now seeing the impact of a lower demand for workers in a number areas resulting in falling house values,” Kutcher explains.

The greatest fall for a mining area however was in Isaac, Queensland where the median house price dropped by 12.4% in 2013.

What’s so great about Carrathool?

Never mind what’s so great about it, where the heck is it?

The Carrathool Shire is part of the NSW Riverina and what’s so great about it is a $40 million cotton gin project planned for the area that once completed, will be one of the largest in the world.

While the Development Application lodged by Auscott is still before council, local real estate agents say investors are already buying in the area.

Landmark Harcourts Hay, sales manager Kay Gibbs says the limited amount of rental properties available has spurred investors to start buying with the expectation more than 100 workers will descend upon the area in the coming months.

“This has caused a scurry of people looking for country to actually grow cotton on, and in the town of Hay we’ve had investors looking to buy cheap properties because there’s going to be at least 100 construction workers come to build the gin,” she explains.

“This is a big boom for Hay – it’s the biggest thing that’s happened to the area for a long, long time.”