Cheapest of RP Data’s 100 growth suburbs, Grenfell rising property values would have inspired native son Henry Lawson
Were he alive today, bush poet Henry Lawson might have penned a few lines about soaring property values in the central NSW country town of Grenfell, the place of his birth, which ranks 22nd on RP Data’s list of top 100 capital growth suburbs and regions.
Grenfell, about 370 kilometres west of Sydney in Weddin Shire, is also the cheapest entry on the top 100, with median property values sitting at just under $150,000 – up from $125,000 in June 2011, a gain of 20%.
There have been very few established houses sold in Grenfell over the past year, according to RP Data records, with most sales being rural blocks and farm land.
Properties that have sold in the 12 months to June include a single-story three-bedroom house on Wood Street with a swimming pool, which sold for $170,000 in October last year.
There are currently just 34 property listings for Grenfell on realestate.com.au – most of them vacant land or farm land.
Currently listings include this three-bedroom wood cottage (pictured below) on 5.5 hectares, asking $199,000 through Marie Jamieson of Jamieson Real Estate – Young.
The property has been listed for sale for nearly four years. It was originally listed at an asking price of $235,000.
For those with bigger budgets, and a desire for something historic and grand, currently listed for sale is "Pinnacle Homestead" on Pinnacle Road (pictured below), a fully renovated Victorian homestead on 517 hectares, which has an asking price of $1.457 million and dates back to 1882. It is being sold by Ainslie Toole of Landmark NSW, who describes it as one of just a few historic homesteads "offered at such a high standard".
Grenfell is one of only two suburbs on the list with a median price under $200,000 – the other being Stawell in the Wimmera region of Victoria, 237 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, which ranked 29th out of 100 with house prices up 18.4% over the year to June, from $149,000 to $176,000.
The third cheapest location is Cobar, a remote outback town in central western NSW towns with ties to copper mining and other mining projects, where median values rose 12.9% over the year to June, rising from $184,000 to $208,000.
According the 2011 census, Grenfell has a population of just under 3,000 people ,with 1,400 dwellings, more than 90% detached housing.
There is a high degree of home ownership, with more than half of dwellings (51.7%) owned outright and a quarter (23.2%) owned with a mortgage. Fewer than a quarter (21.5%) of Grenfell’s residents rent.
Mortgage stress is low in Grenfell, with only 4.8% of households spending more than 30% of their household income on mortgage payment, less than half the state average of 10.5%.
Median weekly rent is $119, meaning an indicative rent of just over 4% based on the current median price.
Amenities in Grenfell include a plethora of churches, a number of schools (including Henry Lawson High School), a pharmacy, Grenfell Hospital, local newspaper the Grenfell Record and an art gallery on main street.
Lawson was born among the goldfields of Grenfell in 1867 “just metres from mineshafts”, according to grenfell.org.au, and penned a number of poems about the town, including Said Grenfell to My Spirit, written in 191, which includes the lines:
“Though you sing of dear old Mudgee and the home on Pipeclay Flat,
You were born on Grenfell goldfield – and you can’t get over that."
His died in 1922, with his place of birth marked in 1924 by an obelisk, which now stands under a large sugar gum tree planted by his daughter Berth Jago.
A Henry Lawson festival is held every year in Grenfell.