Sydney or the bush: Where should housing economic refugees head?

Just eight Sydney properties sold at weekend auction under $500,000.

The cheapest was a two bedroom Cabramatta flat at $400,000.

Leaving Sydney is the stark reality facing many of its residents who can't afford to buy house or apartment.

Regional NSW is far cheaper for what has been recently dubbed as "economic housing refugees".

Onthehouse Residex put the Sydney house median a $917,000, while country NSW is $394,500.

Units are cheaper, but the gap not as wide with the median Sydney unit value at $613,500 and $330,500 in NSW country.

Realestate.com.au has around 5200 listings of houses priced between $200,000 and $300,000, from Aberdare, near Cessnock, to Yass.

CoreLogic RP Data recently noted just how rampant Sydney's increase in home values has been among all Australian capital cities with values, most recently increasing by 13% annually.

Although Sydney home values are increasing at a faster pace than all other capital cities, the 13% annual rise is below the peak annual growth rate of 16.7% in April 2014.

Over the five years to January 2015, Sydney home values have increased by a total of 35.6%, which is the strongest rate of growth of any city over that period.

The recent growth comes on the back of total value growth of just 14.4% over the previous five years, which was the lowest amongst all capital cities.

Between January 2000 and January 2005, Sydney home value growth was greater than it has been over the past five years with values rising 62.3%.

Sydney house values have recorded a higher level of growth than units, increasing by 13.8% over the year as opposed to 9.9% for units.

So where outside of Sydney is the price growth tamer for houses over the past year?

CoreLogic RP Data says it is the Richmond Tweed district followed by the Murray district.

But closer to Sydney it is the Illawarra rather than the Hunter.

Source: CoreLogic RP Data