Free market report · Data to July 2026
Parkes property market
Parkes is one of the 453 council areas we track on the Momentum Dial, our property clock. This page is the plain-numbers read: where it sits in the cycle, who lives there, what's being built, and the suburbs inside it.
Parkes is home to 14,175 people. On the Buyers First Momentum Dial its house market currently reads at Peak. The number to sit with before anything else: population has been shrinking at -0.7% a year. Everything below should be read against that. Here's the rest of the picture, in plain numbers.
Houses · cycle position
Peak
The Parkes house market is growing at its fastest pace in the current cycle. That is a momentum reading, not a crash call: markets can sit at peak growth for a long time before easing.
-4% to +12%
Modelled 12-month price range
+2.7%
Modelled 12-month rent change
Units · cycle position
Not enough unit sales in Parkes for a reliable cycle reading. That's common outside the cities, and honest beats guessed.
At a glance · houses
$547,843
Typical house, August 2026
+5.6% a year since 2010
+7.6%
Growth a year, last 10 years
+7.3% a year over the last 5
$395
Rent a week
3.8% gross yield
1 of 15
Years prices fell since 2010
Worst: 2014, -0%
The clock measures growth momentum, not price. Peak means growing fastest, not about to fall. Cycle data and projections sourced from HtAG Analytics. See Parkes on the clock.
Free · One per person
Want all of this written up for Parkes?
The full report is this data as a written document, plus the current price, rent, yield and growth on one suburb inside Parkes, and the numbers that cut against the area. I write them by hand, so it comes from me rather than out of a system.
The numbers, explained
Parkes in charts.
The typical house in Parkes went from $222,546 in 2010 to $547,843 in August 2026. That is +146% in total, +5.6% a year. One down year in 15. That is a market that pauses rather than falls, and pauses are where the buying gets done.
Houses · price change each year · 2011 to 2026
Prices in Parkes fell in just one year out of 15
+146%
Since 2010
+7.6%
Per year, last 10 years
1 of 15
Years going backwards
-0.5%
Worst year (2014)
What this shows. How much the typical house price in Parkes went up or down each year. Teal bars are up years, red bars are down years, and the faded bar is this year so far.
Why it matters. The size of a good year matters less than how many bad years there were and whether they came in a row. Boring? Absolutely. But the length of the down stretch is what decides whether you get out the other side. Typical price at December each year, data from HtAG Analytics.
You don't need to know property to read this. Every chart below opens with the point in one line, then says what it shows and why we care. Teal is a good sign, amber is okay, red means watch it.
The scorecard · 7 things we check
Parkes scores 21 out of 35. Mixed.
prices are rising as fast as they will this cycle, so the easy money has been made
1 of 15 years
0.3 new homes approved per 100 that exist
population shrinking 0.7% a year
4.5% unemployed, Australia 4.2%
a house costs 6.6 years of a local household's income
2.4% of rentals are empty, so about 2 in every 100
What this shows. Seven quick checks on Parkes, each scored out of five. Five is the reading we most want to see.
Why it matters. No single number tells you whether an area is a good buy. Together they show whether the pieces line up. These are bands, not rules: a council outside a band can still be the right buy for the right person, and one inside every band can still be wrong for you.
House prices since 2010 · Parkes vs the 5 most similar councils in NSW
Parkes has grown in step with similar councils over ten years
+7.3% vs +10.7%
A year, last 5 years
+7.6% vs +7.7%
A year, last 10 years
+5.7% vs +6.2%
A year, last 15 years
What this shows. The typical house price in Parkes every year, in teal, next to the middle of the five councils in NSW closest to it in size and starting price: Murray River, Upper Hunter Shire, Cabonne, Gunnedah, Bellingen. The small "vs" number in each tile is those councils.
Why it matters. Growth here is the regional story rather than a local one. Nothing wrong with that, it just means you are buying the region.
Momentum · the last 36 months
Prices in Parkes are picking up speed right now
$544,692
3-month price, August 2026
+3.2%
3-month price vs 12-month price
322 vs 405
Houses sold, last 12 months vs the 12 before
What this shows. Two versions of the same price. The dotted teal line averages the last three months, so it reacts fast. The grey line averages the last twelve, so it moves slowly. The bars are how many houses sold each month.
Why it matters. The last three months are running ahead of the last twelve. That is what speeding up looks like before it shows in the yearly number.
New homes · approvals as a share of all the homes here
Not many new homes are being built in Parkes
What this shows. For every 100 homes already in Parkes, how many new ones the council approved each year. The teal band is the range we call balanced.
Why it matters. Fewer new homes means the ones that exist stay in demand. It can also mean building here is hard or slow, which cuts the same way. The home count is the population divided by the average household size, so treat the rate as a guide rather than a census.
Affordability · house price in years of local household income
A house in Parkes costs 6.6 years of a local family's income
What this shows. Take the typical house price and divide it by what a typical household here earns in a year. A bar of 7 means seven years of the whole household's income buys one house.
Why it matters. Stretched, which is where most of the country sits now. Growth from here leans on rising incomes and buyers coming in from outside the area. Income is the 2021 Census figure carried forward at 3.5% a year, so it is an estimate, not a measurement.
Rents · typical weekly house rent, last 36 months · and how many rentals sit empty
Rent in Parkes is $395 a week, up 3.1% in a year
$395
A week, August 2026
+3.1%
Change in the last year
2.4%
Rentals sitting empty (balanced)
What this shows. What a typical house in Parkes rents for each week, month by month. The empty-rentals number is the share of rental homes with nobody in them: under 1.5% is tight, over 3% means tenants have plenty of choice.
Why it matters. Rents rising faster than inflation means more people want to live here than there are homes to rent. That pressure eventually shows up in prices.
Rental yield · a year of rent as a share of the price, Parkes vs similar councils
Rent covers 3.8% of the price each year in Parkes
What this shows. Yield is simple: a whole year of rent divided by the house price. A $500,000 house renting for $500 a week earns $26,000 a year, which is a 5.2% yield.
Why it matters. About the same as similar councils. Rent and price are in proportion. We don't buy on yield alone and we never set a yield cut-off; it is one piece of the picture, next to growth.
The people
Who lives in Parkes.
The population has been shrinking, -0.7% a year over the last five years, and that is the single biggest caution flag in this report. Interesting mix underneath: locals have been leaving on net (-369 over three years) while overseas migration more than filled the gap (136). Worth understanding who is arriving and what housing they need. The median age is 41 and the median household brings in $1,336 a week (Census 2021). 68% of households own or are paying off their home. Owner-occupier markets like this tend to hold their nerve through the cycle, because nobody is forced to sell an address they live at.
Population · ABS estimates 2015 to 2025
Parkes is losing people: 14,175 residents, -0.7% a year
14,175
People, 2025
-0.7% vs +0.6%
A year, last 5 years · typical NSW council
-0.5%
A year, last 10 years
Why it matters. A shrinking population is the single biggest caution flag in this report. Fewer people means fewer buyers and fewer tenants.
Where the growth came from · last 3 years
Parkes lost 185 people on net over the last three years
Net change: -185 people over three years.
What this shows. Three ways a place gains or loses people: babies born minus people who died, people who moved here from another part of Australia, and people who arrived from overseas. Bars to the right add people, bars to the left take them away.
Why it matters. When more people leave than arrive, demand relies on locals moving house. That works while jobs hold, and it is the number to watch.
Age and households · Census 2021
Parkes is about the same age as the typical NSW council: median age 41
Parkes Typical NSW council (middle of 122)
Why it matters. A mixed-age area has demand for most housing types, which makes it easier to sell to whoever the next buyer is.
Income and who owns the homes · Census 2021
Most homes in Parkes are owner-occupied: 68% own or are paying off, 28% rent
Own or paying off Renting Other
Why it matters. Owner-occupier markets hold their nerve through the cycle, because nobody is forced to sell the address they live at.
New supply
What's being approved to build.
18 dwellings were approved in FY26, 18 of them houses. Approvals are trending down. If demand holds, thinning supply is how pressure builds under prices and rents. On the non-residential side, $15 million of building was approved in FY26, $3 million of it public money. Governments build where they expect people. Within that, $11 million of education and health buildings have been approved across the last three financial years. Schools and hospitals are the most honest signal governments give about where they expect families.
Homes approved · ABS, by financial year
Not much new is being built in Parkes: 18 homes approved in FY26
Houses Units, townhouses and other
18
Homes approved, FY26
100%
Of them houses
0.3%
New homes per 100 that exist
What this shows. How many new homes the council approved each financial year, split into houses and everything else. Approved is not built, but it is the earliest warning of supply on the way.
Why it matters. When little gets built, the homes already here do not have much competition. Good for prices, as long as people keep arriving.
Non-residential building approved · ABS
$15m of non-residential building was approved in Parkes in FY26
Government projects All non-residential
$15m
All sectors, FY26
$3m
Government, FY26
$11m
Schools and health, last 3 years
What this shows. The dollar value of shops, offices, schools, hospitals and other non-home buildings approved each year. The darker bar is the government's share.
Why it matters. Governments build where they expect people. Schools and hospitals are the most honest signal they give about where families are heading. For the named projects behind these numbers, ask for the full report.
Jobs
Who's working in Parkes.
Work here runs on health care and social assistance (13% of jobs), ahead of agriculture and retail trade. 466 fewer residents are in work than five years ago (-6.1%). Understand why before anything else on this page. Unemployment tracks close to the national average at 4.5%. On the ABS advantage index it ranks in the bottom 30% nationally. That usually means better yields, and it means doing your homework street by street.
Jobs · SALM, March 2026
466 fewer people in Parkes have a job than five years ago
7,207
Residents in work
4.5% vs 4.2%
Unemployed · Australia
-6.1%
Jobs change, 5 years
Parkes Australia
Why it matters. A shrinking job base is the thing to understand before anything else on this page. People follow work, and housing follows people.
Who employs people here · Census 2021
Health care and social assistance is the biggest employer in Parkes, 13% of jobs
What this shows. The five industries that employ the most residents, as a share of all jobs. The pill is the ABS advantage score: Parkes sits in decile 3 of 10 nationally, where 10 is the most advantaged.
Why it matters. A spread of employers means no single closure can empty the town. That is the kind of job base that holds house prices through a downturn.
The outlook
Is Parkes worth buying into?
The strongest thing the data says for Parkes is new supply thinning out. Against that, weigh a shrinking population and fewer residents in work than five years ago. None of this guarantees anything. It tells you where to look harder, which is what a report like this is for.
Free · Written by hand · One per person
This page is the public data. The full report is that written up as a document, plus the current price, rent, yield and growth on one suburb inside Parkes. One per person.
Name, email and phone. I write these by hand, one per person, and the conversation afterwards is the only thing the report costs.
Inside the LGA
The suburbs of Parkes.
We hold live snapshot data for one suburb in Parkes. Click through for the full numbers.
| Suburb | Typical price | Rent/wk | Gross yield | 1yr growth | Listings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parkes | $480,866 | $435 | 4.7% | +6% | REA · Domain |
Next step. See what's for sale in Parkes on realestate.com.au or Domain. Then send me the address before you make an offer. That is the part the data cannot do.
All 15 suburbs and localities in Parkes
Alectown · Bogan Gate · Bruie Plains · Cooks Myalls · Goonumbla · Gunningbland · Mandagery · Nelungaloo · Parkes · Peak Hill · Tichborne · Trewilga · Trundle · Tullamore · Yarrabandai
Free · Written by hand · One per person
Want the full workup on Parkes?
This page is the public data. The full report is the written workup: current price, rent, gross yield and vacancy, growth over 1, 3, 5 and 10 years, days on market and demand, and the supply coming down the pipe, for Parkes or any suburb in it. Same data we run for clients. I pull it and email it through, usually within a business day. One per person, no charge, and no 14-part email sequence afterwards. All I ask is that if it lands, you take the fifteen minute call at the end of it.
Name, email and phone. I write these by hand, one per person, and the conversation afterwards is the only thing the report costs.
Keep comparing
Markets of a similar size in NSW.
A council only makes sense in context. These are the NSW markets closest to Parkes in population, each with its own written report.
General information only, not financial or investment advice. Cycle positions and projections are modelled LGA-level figures to July 2026, sourced from HtAG Analytics. Population and approvals are ABS estimates; employment is SALM smoothed data; income, age and tenure are Census 2021. None of it can see street quality, flood maps, zoning or the contract, which is where deals are actually won and lost. Get advice on your own situation before acting.
Data finds the area. It doesn't buy the house.
We narrow 15,000 suburbs to the top 5 for each client, then find the street and the property. If Parkes is on your list, that's a conversation worth having early.