First-time buyers priced out of the Newcastle property market are increasingly making the move to Maitland according to Tony Cant Real Estate.
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Rebecca Chapman, 32, has just made the change from the inner suburbs of Newcastle to a home at Rutherford.
She has lived in the Cooks Hill area for the past 10 years and loved being able to walk to cafes and shops.
The young business woman runs a catering company in Newcastle and had hoped to buy her first house in the city. After she met with the bank and discovered there were not many houses in her price range.
Ms Chapman is one of three house hunters that Tony Cant Real Estate has helped make the tree change in the past 10 months.
“It’s better value for money than what you get in Newcastle,” Tony Cant property consultant Jody Morrissey said.
“They’ve bought here because the travel times are more reasonable on the New England Highway since the Hunter Expressway has reduced congestion.”
Ms Chapman said it dawned on her that Newcastle was not a viable option for people trying to get on the property ladder.
“They don’t offer the first home-buyers grant anymore, they only offer money for new-build homes,” Ms Chapman said.
“I didn’t want something new, I wanted something with a bit of character.
“I didn’t want to live in an apartment either, which is all I would have been able to afford.”
The keen first-time buyer decided to widen her property search to include Maitland city centre and eventually looked further afield to Rutherford, where she found her perfect three-bedroom house.
“I wanted an old house with a big yard, the idyllic country cottage,” she said.
“If I bought this same house in Newcastle it would cost me close to a million dollars.”
Ms Chapman has friends who have also made the move and bought their first home in Morpeth.
She believes the trend of first-time buyers moving into Maitland will only increase because of the rising cost of buying in Newcastle.
“I can’t see how first-time buyers would do it,” she said.
“I wasn’t willing to get into that much debt.”
Ms Chapman bought her Rutherford house for $320,000 in December 2014 and has already started renovations.
She said the down side to making the shift to the Maitland local government area was the drive to Newcastle for work and social commitments.
“It can be exhausting, but I am happy to stay here and I love this house,” she said.
