Hilltops tops rental increase list for regional NSW

According to a new report from real estate website Domain, the Hilltops has the highest rent rise in regional NSW over the year end to December 2025. The Domain Rent Report showed rents rose in almost every regional NSW local government area over the year with experts warning the pressure is far from over. Hilltops according to the report showed there was a 15.6 per cent annual change in the 12 months up to December 2025 with the median weekly asking rent rising from around $400 a week to $463. Domain senior economist Joel Bowman said the overall NSW regional market had outpaced Sydney in annual rent growth. Mr Bowman said that vacancy rates remained tight at 0.9 per cent across the combined regional LGAs, with employment growth, relative affordability and investor demand creating a perfect storm in small markets with limited stock. As previously reported late last year the current vacany rate in the Hilltops sits at around 0.5 per cent. “Topping that list was the Hilltops LGA, which includes Young and there’s a few defining characteristics there alone,” Mr Bowman said. “You’ve got spillover from affordability pressures elsewhere, and then there’s good employment opportuities such as agriculture and food processing. “And when the rental pool isn’t big to begin with, an increase in demand has a big impact.” KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley told Domain that a strong agricultural year, particularly in egg and stone fruit production, had injected money into the local economy with years of under building leaving little slack in the housing market. “Some of these LGAs only have a population of 20,000, so when we see the economy pick up it sometimes only takes 10 or 20 families moving in to shift the dial on the rental market,” Mr Rawnsley said. He told Domain that rentvestors were also adding fuel to the fire, attracted by yields, warning the flow on effects were being felt most acutely by locals. “When they have to find an extra $100 a week even though their pay hasn’t increased, it puts them in a tough position,” Mr Rawnsley said. Ray White Young principal David Coombes told Domain that the rental market had skyrocketed with population growth driven by booming local industries. “It’s unprecedented times for us,” he said. “Our market has never been this strong. “We don’t get the peaks and troughs that southern markets do, but there’s just no chance of the rental market changing here because there’s just such a high occupancy rate.” According to Mr Coombes people are moving with employment trends but a lot of people are returning to the area that previously lived here. “We’ve also found since this financial year there’s been a whole lot more investors,” he said. Mr Coombes explained that the perfect storm had hit almost overnight with rental property applications increasing. “Rents out here were static for so long, but now each time a property becomes available the price is going up,” he said. “And it’s sometimes 15 per cent. “I don’t see that changing.” Mr Coombes believes first home buyers in conjunction with deposit schemes have also reshaped the market causing a competition with investors for available properties. He also added major employers like the abattoir are operating at capacity and a strong cherry season and bumper cropping and grazing year underpinned employment growth. “We’ve become a bit of a hub commercially because we are two hours from Bathurst, Wagga, Orange and Canberra,” Mr Coombes said. “Our CBD has grown so much too.”