"BLAME the celebrities with multi-million dollar pay packets who keep moving into the area, but housing stock in Byron Bay and beyond certainly isn't getting any cheaper.
In fact, if you'd bought in the area when it was little more than a hippie enclave, you'd be feeling pretty smug about your property investment skills now.
CoreLogic RP Data's latest Market Trends report shows that over a 12-month period, house prices in Byron Bay increased an incredible 39.5% to a median price of $1.5 million with units increasing 33.1% to $792,500. Excuse me, but is that Chris Hemsworth or Simon Baker at the next restaurant table?
Of course, Byron wasn't alone in pushing property growth in the idyllic Northern Rivers area. Homes in Ballina enjoyed a healthy growth of 10.7% to take the median price to $492,500 and units showed a 10.1% growth to hit $380,000.
Most surprisingly, a unit in West Ballina will now cost you $397 a week in rent, up 17.8%.
Once the domain of the mobility scooter brigade, there's no doubt the area is changing fast, with new developments such as the Ballina Marina planned and upmarket over-55s resorts such as Palm Lakes Resort catering to a new, cashed-up and stylish crowd.
Troy MacRae, of Elders Alstonville, said investors and lifestylers from Sydney and Brisbane were most likely to move to coastal areas such as Ballina, Byron and Lennox, where median house prices rose 3.7% to $777,500 and unit prices increased 15.6% to $640,000."
Source: Northern Star
https://www.northernstar.com.au/news/fame-factor-boosts-property-prices-...
