House Prices
House prices
Data source: NSW Govt Rent and Sales Report
The latest data shows housing prices in the Hunter continuing to strengthen, with momentum clearly lifting in the most recent quarter. In the September quarter 2025, the Greater Newcastle Area combined indicator (Cessnock, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Newcastle and Port Stephens) rose by 3.7% over the quarter and 9.3% over the year, reaching 843 (in $000s). This is a strong and broad-based rise across the five core LGAs, with all five posting gains over the quarter and over the past 12 months. Over the six months to September 2025, the largest increases were in Maitland (7.1%), Newcastle (6.3%), Cessnock (6.1%) and Lake Macquarie (5.7%). While growth has been widespread, results are more mixed outside the core five in the latest half-year, with modest declines in Mid-Coast, Muswellbrook and Upper Hunter Shire. Even with recent gains, most LGAs remain below the NSW median value level, with Newcastle now sitting around parity with NSW.
Data source: NSW Govt Rent and Sales Report
Rental prices
For renters, the latest quarterly data (December 2025) indicates that rents are still edging higher rather than stalling. The data below tracks median weekly rent for 3-bedroom stand-alone houses. Users can view either the median value by LGA, or each LGA indexed to September 2010 (showing relative rent growth before and after that point). The latest release from the NSW Govt Rent and Sales Report now extends to the final quarter of 2025. Across the Greater Newcastle Area (Cessnock, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Newcastle and Port Stephens), median rents rose 3.2% over the quarter and 5.9% over the year.
Data source: NSW Govt Rent and Sales Report. Data indexed to start 2009.
In the 6 months to December 2025, rent movements were broadly positive across the Hunter LGAs, with no measured declines. The strongest gains were in Upper Hunter Shire (+8.9%) and Singleton (+7.8%), followed by Lake Macquarie (+6.2%) and Newcastle (+4.3%). Muswellbrook was flat over the same period, while several other LGAs recorded moderate increases in the 3% to 4% range. Greater Sydney also increased over the latest quarter (+2.9%), while NSW overall was flat in the quarter but still up over the year. (Dungog is excluded from 6‑month comparisons where the latest quarter value is unavailable.)
Data source: NSW Govt Rent and Sales Report
House prices to annual rent ratio
Interestingly, the ratio of house prices to annual rent has started to reverse declines from peaks 3-4 years ago, as shown in the figure below. This reflects the recent strengthening in house price growth compared to stabilisation of rents. A rising price-to-rent ratio indicates that housing investment has become relatively less attractive, with rental prices rising slower than house prices over this period. Internationally, a ratio of 20 is often considered a baseline, but Australia remains well above this level, reflecting the high cost of home ownership. The peak in house prices observed in 2022 is mirrored in the price-to-rent ratio, highlighting that rents did not experience the same surge as house prices at that time.
Data source: NSW Govt Rent and Sales Report
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