Kevin Mason

Craig, it's a very warm welcome.

Thank you so much.

A pleasure to be here.

It's broken up into a number of regions, Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Hunter, Port Stephens to the north, as you mentioned, areas like Fingal Bay, Nelson Bay.

Look, it's just a wonderful lifestyle here.

So there's great schools, there's fantastic beaches.

It's a diverse economy as well, a wide range of employment.

Look, it's just got a lovely relaxed feel.

I know when I have a client that comes up to the area who hasn't been, the comments are always, wow, you know, I could live here.

It's got a great energy, great vibe.

It's very relaxed.

And I think that's a big drawcard.

And certainly we're seeing a large increase in internal net migration to regional areas such as Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Hunter and the Port Stephens area.

Yeah, that's right.

Look, Newcastle CBD itself, you've got high price points there in the city.

But to be honest, you can be five or 10 minutes out.

You know, you can be picking up either an apartment in the CBD or you could be picking up a townhouse in the middle ring areas or a house, you know, sort of getting up into the sort of the 1 to 1.2, some of the more premium quality areas.

But only 15 minutes to 20 minutes from the CBD, areas such as Katara, New Lambton, your middle ring suburbs are

You can pick up a modern or near new townhouse duplex, you know, sort of ranging in the eights and nines, a decent quality house.

You're getting up into the one, 1.2.