Masterplanned Town in Hunter Valley is a top performer in the region

CoreLogic’s Hedonic Home Value Index ranked North Rothbury among the region’s top performers in 2022, which prompted investors to scramble to get a map of the town. Huntlee, the Hunter Valley’s newest masterplanned development, shares the same postcode with North Rothbury. 

Just north of the Pokolbin wine region, Huntlee’s impressive new town center welcomes you with open arms. Here you can find everything you need for shopping and personal needs, such as a daycare, medical center, Coles supermarket, tavern, and specialty shops. Huntlee Fitness will open its doors in just a few weeks.

Having the vineyards at your doorstep means that you have access to a few years’ worth of quality weekends within a very short drive of here. Huntlee is also well located for another very important reason. Singleton, Maitland and Cessnock are close by and provide a wealth of employment opportunities, ranging from engineering to hospitality to high-tech. As a result, Huntlee is becoming a popular place for working families to raise a family in a supportive, curated environment.

Numbers tell the story

When the masterplanned community is completed, it will have 7500 residents spread across four villages, the first town in the Hunter in 50 years. With 45 minutes between Newcastle and Sydney and an easy hop on the freeway, the area is seeing an increase in remote-working residents following the Covid revolution.

Considering its unmatched lifestyle and home prices well below the NSW median, the North Rothbury-Branxton-Greta region is expected to experience explosive growth in the upcoming years.

More than 60% of the current population of 8800 is expected to grow to 14,100 by 2041.

Hydrogen hub

Residents of Huntlee can afford a home that is out of reach in most major urban areas with an average block size ranging from 225sqm to 897sqm. A healthy 4.9 per cent rental yield is achieved in the Hunter, and there is just a 2.79 per cent rental vacancy rate. The Hunter is poised to become one of NSW’s first green hydrogen hubs, creating new low-carbon jobs.

The town center is also undergoing rapid development. Green Ridge, a luxury retirement village across the road, is being built. As the area approaches government-mandated population milestones, nearby land for primary and secondary schools is ready for development. A wide range of public and private secondary schools are also within minutes of Branxton and Greta primary schools.

Invested in prospering

Huntlee emphasizes self-sustaining communities that generate their own microeconomies by providing employment, education, entertainment, shopping, and community services.

The city of Huntlee is dotted with parks and walking paths, making it a social hub for families and friends. The Huntlee District Park is a jewel among the trees and is home to an amphitheatre, picnic areas, barbecue facilities, and dog park. 

With the development focus shifting to bringing even more vitality and diversity to the town centre by 2023, the shopping precinct will be within walking distance of modern residential and residential/commercial townhome developments. The Urban Series development offers super modern, open-plan designs––packing a lot of home into highly affordable land footprints.

According to Robert Crane, Huntlee’s sales director, the Urban Series will offer a new way of life for working and professional people and their families in the area. People of all ages can benefit from the lock and leave lifestyle, from young couples to executives to downsizers and retirees.

At the start of 2023, Huntlee’s residential community consisted of both owners and renters. The median house price was $826,000, and the median rent was $685 a week. A variety of block sizes are available in Huntlee’s latest release, ranging in size from 225sq m to 895sq m with a few larger lots available.

The Huntlee Display Village offers a stunning range of homes built by Australia’s leading builders, worth a visit just to get some inspiration for your own home. Investors will be interested in choosing design configurations that maximize rental and resale returns.

In addition to standard electricity, water and sewer connections, Huntlee provides a separate recycled water system for toilets and gardening, eliminating the necessity for bulky water tanks. In addition to this, there are natural gas and FTTP internet connections, fences at the side and rear, and landscaping on the front.

It takes significant investment and determination to masterplan a whole town, but the payoff is well worth it, as Huntlee properties homes outperform the broader housing market in terms of returns and resales. In a booming location, this property offers low vacancy and high yields.