Agents must adapt to a new buyer demographic and to the growing wave of investor-led activity in regional centres as they chase strong yields.
With capital-to-regional migration becoming a more common path to home ownership for Australians, Wagga Wagga has stood out as a region driven by high investor interest and strong returns.
With almost three decades of experience, Raine & Horne Wagga Wagga principal Grant Harris said he had witnessed an increase in buyer’s agents acting on behalf of investors in his regional market.
“The majority of property interest is coming from out-of-town investors, but the local first home buyers are pretty active too,” Harris said.
“In the last 12 months, I’ve been seeing more buyer’s agents, whereas prior to that we’d get one every now and then. Now, I’d say 90 per cent of our clients are using buyer’s agents.”
Harris said the market had gone through several peaks and valleys over his career, but the current boom in the town’s prices was something he had only seen a handful of times.
He said the first price “kick” he experienced was when goods and services tax (GST) was introduced in 2000.
“There have been three or four artificially stimulated kicks since then, and this would be consistent with those.”
According to Cotality’s most recent Regional Market Update, Wagga Wagga was identified as the nation's highest-performing township, with home values jumping by 8.1 per cent over the previous quarter.
Additionally, the report found that Wagga Wagga’s sales volume jumped by more than 20 per cent over the 12 months to November 2025, reaching 1,376 sales.
Harris said the recent growth of Wagga Wagga was largely driven by demand outweighing supply, as government expenditure on local infrastructure projects brings more jobs to the area.
“We have seen a huge amount of government spending in the area, which has seen the demand for accommodation overall,” Harris said.
“A tightening rental market attracts investment but also makes first-time owner-occupiers more inclined to buy.”
A shifting property market
While Harris said that real estate “wasn’t rocket science,” as more interstate investors arise, regional agents need to remember the fundamentals and maintain transparency and a high level of communication.
“We have obviously got a lot of buyer’s agents with eyes on Wagga Wagga, so database management and making sure that anyone who is interested in the area is given all of the necessary information,” he said.
When handling property sales, especially for investors, Harris said agents should ensure the listing is rent-ready.
“Make sure you have done painting, carpets, even building and pest inspections upfront to take out any risk or delay for getting an unconditional contract,” he said.
“Encourage the owner to have the property completely rent-ready and have a building report and give it a clean bill of health, so that if you find the right buyer, you can exchange quickly without any risk.”
Despite performing strongly, Harris said the rental market hasn’t kept pace with price growth, which has impacted investor yields.
He said the region’s rental market was also largely dictated by seasonal work and infrastructure projects, with developments such as the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and army base and Hume projects bringing an influx of renters into the township.
“There’s been a huge uptake in the short-term rental market, which flows on to the longer-term rental market, affecting supply.”
“We’ll continue to see growth in the rental market, but it will probably be a bit slower than the sales price,” Harris concluded.
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