Revealed: the Hunter's number one building hotspot

A Hunter housing boom has landed 13 Hunter areas on a list of the state's hot spots.

Branxton, Greta and Pokolbin have topped the Hunter's home-building charts, retaining the region's top performer status for the third straight year.

While that area remains tough to beat, the new figures reveal a record 13 areas across the Hunter are riding a residential building boom.

The Housing Industry Association's 2026 Population and Residential Building Hotspots Report shows the wine country growth corridor recorded 6.8 per cent annual population growth and $140.9 million in residential building approvals in 2024/25.

But it was Newcastle-Cooks Hill that posted the highest figure of any Hunter suburb, with $326.9 million in approved residential building work and population growth of 2.4 per cent.

The inner-city precinct was one of only two areas outside Sydney to crack the state's list in the national report.

The 13 Hunter localities listed this year is up from nine in the 2023 list and eight the year before.

HIA Hunter executive director Craig Jennion said that was a sign the region's housing pipeline was only getting busier.

"The Hunter region continues to demonstrate the importance of a strong pipeline of residential land and housing approvals, with 13 local areas meeting HIA's population and residential building hotspots criteria in 2024/25," Mr Jennion said.

To make the Hunter list, an area needed population growth faster than 1.5 per cent and at least $50 million in residential building approvals over the year.

Rounding out the region's top performers were Redhead, with 5.3 per cent population growth and $51 million in approvals; Thornton-Millers Forest, up 4.6 per cent with $131.4 million in approvals; and Morisset-Cooranbong, growing 3.5 per cent with $97.8 million in approvals.

On the Central Coast, Warnervale-Wadalba again made the cut, growing 2.8 per cent with $91.4 million in approvals.

Mr Jennion said the figures pointed to two parallel trends reshaping the Hunter's housing supply.

While there has been outward growth on greenfield land, there was also strong renewal within established suburbs.

"HIA's Hotspots Report shows that families are continuing to seek out areas where new housing supply can be delivered, including greenfield communities across the Hunter," he said.

"At the same time, infill markets are becoming more prominent. Areas such as Newcastle-Cooks Hill, Warners Bay-Boolaroo and Redhead show that multi-unit approvals and renewal in established suburbs are also contributing to the region's housing pipeline."

Nationally, the pattern was even more heavily tilted towards new estates on the urban fringe, with 19 of the national top 20 hotspots located in greenfield growth areas around Sydney, Melbourne, south-east Queensland, Adelaide and Perth.

"These remain areas of strong population growth and point to the housing preference of many families for a standalone detached home," Mr Jennion said.

"Infill has also been appearing more prominently, with multi-unit approvals in existing suburbs continuing to pick up.

"Planning changes aimed at encouraging multi-unit developments appear to be supporting this shift."

The hotspots report lands as separate HIA figures show total dwelling approvals across the Hunter rose 6 per cent in the year to April, and 27 per cent on the Central Coast, even as land prices climb.

The HIA-Cotality Residential Land Report put the median lot price for Newcastle and Lake Macquarie at $565,000 in the December quarter, up almost 11 per cent on the year before.

Mr Jennion said the challenge now was keeping pace with demand.

"The message for the Hunter is clear," he said.

"Governments need to maintain a steady supply of shovel-ready land, support infrastructure delivery and ensure planning systems can respond to demand for both detached homes and medium and higher-density housing," he said.