Your right in some areas and a little off in others. I have lived in Nowra for a total of 30 years.
your right the big retailers are moving out of town but this is not an exodus.South Nowra is a industrial center that the majority of your bigger outfits are moving there. 6 or so years ago it was dead. Now there is growth everywhere with industrial land prices to match.
the CBD is actually the better place to invest. Not the outskirts ( seaside is a different kettle of fish). the center is landlocked.
river to the north
South nowra development to the south
Cliffs parks to the west
Flood marsh land to the east.
My property window is west of the highway and north of albatross road( services the base)
riverfront is to be developed. Link road 92 will connect Canberra to nowra via braidwood.Soon to be dual lane all the way to nowra from Kiama( preferred route stage). Plus the aviation technology park is expanding with big defence contracts going there.There are others but im sleepy.
there are problems also like high unemployment although the large number of semi retirees distort this figure.So good and bad points but you could do a lot worse. Location is not actually my concern. more worried about making the most of what i have.
Hmm.. link 92, how many years did it take to pave a 2 way road to braidwood?
Dual lane all the way to Kiama, yeah I can see that happening soon, but really, who from Sydney is going to travel passed Kiama to go to the end of the railway... What's there? a river, 3 golf courses, a 24 hour Kmart?
The large number of retirees don't distort the unemployment figures. Do you know the youth unemployment figures? 2nd highest in Australia, demographics of east nowra will tell you this.
You asked for thoughts I;m giving you mine. #4 in my opinion is your best option.
Want to make money in nowra? Buy the block of land that runs parallel to coconut drive on the west side, put the pwerlines underground and turn all the land that has gas lines under it into parkland. Subdivide it and flog all the blocks of land off for a super inflated price when there is another boom in Sydney. All the houses on Karana drive are built out now and massive double story houses with pools aren't they?
I'd classify them as West Cambewarra, chuck another 50k on each block just for that area.