Redhead, The Hill top Newcastle's 2021 property hotspots: report

Median house prices in the beachside suburb have increased by 50.1 per cent to $1,432,000 in the past 12 months, representing the eighth-highest jump in regional NSW.

Gerringong, in the Illawarra, topped the list with a yearly increase of 56.4 per cent and a median house price of $1,681,000.

The Hunter Valley township of Pindimar came in at fifth with a 51.9 per cent jump and median house price of $708,000.

Redhead's growing numbers came as little surprise to Belle Property's Katie Kepner, who sold a four-bedroom home at 60A Collier Street for $2.19 million last weekend.

The property was 850 metres from the beach and didn't have pool, but secured the suburb's fourth-highest sale price.

"Redhead is such a beautiful spot," Ms Kepner said.

"Once they move into Redhead, people tend to transact property within Redhead, whether that's upsizing, downsizing, they usually want to stay.

"You look at some suburbs that are becoming unattainable and then you think there's a hidden gem that shouldn't be hidden like Redhead - it's probably starting to get the exposure it deserves.

"In the last 12 months there's been properties that are in knockdown condition and they're going for just shy of $1 million, so it's possible people will start getting priced out of Redhead if they aren't already."

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The new figures were released on Thursday in CoreLogic's 'best of the best' report, which provides suburb-level analysis of the country's best property performers.

The Hill cemented its place as one of Newcastle's most desirable locations with a median house price of $1.99 million.

The figure is the ninth-highest in regional New South Wales and about $500,000 below that of Byron Bay, which is regional NSW's most expensive suburb.

The report also highlighted the Hunter Valley as the best spot in regional NSW for rental yield.

Muswellbrook, Singleton and Scone ranked in the top three spots with yields of between 6.5 and 7.2 per cent and median rental values ranging from $315 to $355.

Singleton Heights and Hunterview ranked in at six and 10 respectively.

Muswellbrook also has the second-lowest median unit value ($238,000) of regional NSW suburbs with 12 or more sales in 2021.

After labelling 2021 "a year like no other", CoreLogic's head of research Eliza Owen said Australia had likely seen its peak of rising property prices.

"The constraints of slightly tighter credit conditions, the erosion of housing affordability and a higher level of listings being added to the market are expected to see softer growth rates across property values in 2022," Ms Owen said.

"These forces are an accumulation of headwinds for property market performance.

"Softer growth rates are likely to coincide with fewer purchases, where sales and listings activity eventually move with momentum in price."

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