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Albury – Wodonga: A Thriving Twin-City Hub along Murray River
Albury, nestled on the northern banks of the Murray River in New South Wales, offers a vibrant mix of rich history, picturesque parks, and cultural attractions. Just across the river in Victoria, Wodonga stands as a dynamic city, known as a home of several large food production companies, a key logistics and manufacturing hub. With a growing population, ongoing infrastructure development, affordable housing and close proximity to major cities (Melbourne and Canberra), these twin cities continue to grow, providing economic stability and an attractive destination for businesses, investors and residents.
Boom to Slowdown – What’s Next?
From 2021 to 2022, Albury – Wodonga’s house prices skyrocketed, surging over 15% each year. However, after this boom period, the market quickly hit the brakes, with its last 1-year growth slowing to just 2.1%. What is happening in Albury – Wodonga? Is the market stabilising or setting up for a change? Join us today to uncover Albury – Wodonga’s current market conditions and outlook!
As of December 2024, Albury – Wodonga’s House Market Pressure is relatively low.
Among the six metrics InvestorKit uses to measure market performance, Albury – Wodonga scores the highest (=5) in rental pressure, 4 in yield and affordability, 3 in incoming supply and 2 in price pressure and market cycle position.
Demographic & Economic Trends
From 2017 to 2022, Albury – Wodonga’s population growth rate dropped, bottoming out at 0.92% in 2022. Between 2020 and 2021, net internal migration surged as more people relocated regionally during the pandemic, while overseas migration plummeted due to travel restrictions.
Since then, the population growth has rebounded, fueled by economic recovery and the return of overseas migrants. Albury – Wodonga’s population growth rate was around 1.4% in the 2022-23 financial year.
This improving population growth is expected to drive higher housing demand in the region in the coming years.
Albury – Wodonga’s unemployment rate fell dramatically from 10.1% in mid 2015 to 3.9% in mid 2022. Since then, it has remained stable at around 4.0% and slightly increased to 4.2% in December 2024.
Meanwhile, the number of job ads continues to decline, around 16% lower than the last 12 months. Nevertheless, it is still much higher than a decade ago.
Despite this decline in job ads, both indicators suggest that Albury-Wodonga’s job market remains healthy and the local economy continues to strengthen.
Sales Market Trends
Albury – Wodonga’s house market has grown slowly over the past year. The current median house price is $589k, about 2.1% higher than a year ago. Sale days on market have been hovering around 49 days after months of increasing (up by 15% over the last 12 months). This trend suggests a lower demand, pointing to moderate price growth ahead.
Why are houses in Albury – Wodonga taking longer days to sell?
Over the past 12 months, Albury – Wodonga’s number of for-sale house listings has increased by 13% while the sale volume has remained steady. These trends contributed to a rise in inventory to a high level of 4.6 months of stock.
The high inventory level implies that market heat in Albury – Wodonga has become more relaxed, resulting in a longer time to sell.
How about Albury – Wodonga’s incoming housing supply prospects?
Albury – Wodonga’s building approval rate has been at a balanced level for the past decade, suggesting relatively low risk of housing oversupply. While there was a surge in construction activity between 2020 and 2021, it still fell short of the benchmark rate. Albury – Wodonga’s balanced building approval rate is a good sign for continued value growth.
Albury – Wodonga’s house price growth accelerated in 2021 and started slowing down in 2023. Over the last 10 years, it rose tremendously, up by around 109%, higher than the average of top-populated regional cities and its long-term growth average. This strong 10-year growth implies that Albury – Wodonga will more likely see moderate growth in the medium term.
Rental Market Trends
In contrast to the low sales market pressure, Albury – Wodonga’s rental pressure is high. The vacancy rate has declined and is at a low level of around 0.5%. However, rent has increased relatively slowly at 5.9% over the last 12 months. The slow rental growth could be caused by the affordability ceiling. However, we still expect more growth in the coming year due to the high rental market pressure.
Albury – Wodonga enjoys a healthy rental yield of 4.8%, slightly higher than the average of the top-populated cities. Since sales prices have grown more slowly than rental prices, yields have improved since mid 2024. We expect rental yields to remain healthy in the coming months given low price pressure and high rental pressure.
Over the past decade, Albury – Wodonga’s rental prices have grown by 63%, just slightly lower than the average growth rate of the top-populated regional cities. We expect this to increase further, considering the region’s increasing housing demand driven by the improving local economy and high rental market pressure.
In the next 6-12 months…
Albury-Wodonga’s housing market is experiencing low pressure due to high and increasing supply relative to demand. Therefore, in the coming 6-12 months, we expect house prices to continue their slow growth. In contrast, the rental market remains tight, with further rental growth to occur.
Albury – Wodonga is the 11th regional city we examine in this Market Pressure Review Blog Series. Stay tuned for more cities to follow! InvestorKit is a data-driven buyers’ agency that chooses purchasing locations through a sophisticated market pressure analysis system. This methodology has enabled our clients to achieve growth higher than the average and expedite their investment journey. Interested in learning more about InvestorKit’s research and services? Talk to us today by clicking here and requesting your 15-min FREE discovery call!