Buyers are looking a little north for a foothold in the Hunter's housing market, with the suburb of Medowie undergoing its own quiet residential housing boom.
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While much of the focus has been on luxury apartments springing up in the Newcastle CBD, new homes on lifestyle blocks are proving equally popular in outlying suburbs.
This week, stage one of the McCloy Group's “Bower” development – named after the male Satin Bowerbird that lives in the neighbouring Medowie State Forest – sold out within 48 hours.
Buyers camped out for up to four days to secure one of the 31 home sites available in the first stage of the project.
"We were very happy but not totally surprised," McCloy Group managing director Brian Swaine said.
"We were expecting relatively strong demand because there hasn't been a new land release in that general district for some time.
"But we were a little bit surprised at how keen some of the purchasers were and how long they were prepared to wait out."
The development off Boundary Road was originally put forward by Eureka Funds Management in the mid-2000s – as roughly 1200 lots – but was knocked back as the over-development of a sensitive site.
A scaled-back proposal for a 350-lot rural estate was given the green light in 2013, but Eureka Funds Management pulled the pin on the development a year later.
It was taken over by the McCloy Group, which plans to release the blocks in 12 stages over six to seven years.
The blocks range in size from 1000 to over 4000 square metres, while 70 hectares of the 127 hectare site will be preserved as open space and state forest.
Mr Swaine said that Medowie was attractive to buyers because of its location, only a half hour’s drive to Newcastle and wedged between the beaches of Port Stephens and the work opportunities at the Williamtown RAAF Base and Newcastle Airport.
He also put the appeal of the development down to the unusual size of the lots.
“Much of the time lots will be between 450 and 600 square metres. But people like to be able to put a shed in the backyard and have that sort of space.”
Reece Hall and his partner Sam were among those that camped out and were thrilled to have secured a 1000 square metre lot in the new estate.
The pair are first-home buyers and Mr Hall said he had been living with his parents in Corlette while saving for the deposit.
“The fact that the land is flat as well, you can’t buy it that cheap at the Bay ... it’s always got a horrible sort of slope,” he said.
Australian Property Monitors has recorded 9 per cent growth in the suburb this year.
