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On the northern beaches of the Coffs Harbour region, a rare opportunity to secure an address in a unique coastal village is on offer.

In the tightly held town of Woolgoolga, new land releases are scarce despite the keen amount of interest in the area’s relaxed coastal lifestyle.

With its first release just launched, Swell Woolgoolga by Clarence Property is a one-of-a-kind chance for buyers to secure an affordable property in the heart of this vibrant community.

“Large land releases and master-planned communities in northern NSW are hard to come by particularly this close to the beach and amenity,” says Jim Hillery, Development Manager at Clarence Property.

The Coffs Coast’s vibrant hidden gem

Woolgoolga is a dream for tourists and property seekers alike, beloved for its rugged coastline and headland outlook, village charm and nature to explore including Woolgoolga Falls in nearby Wedding Bells State Forest.

“It has an abundance of amazing surfing beaches with a unique coastal village atmosphere and culture,” says Mr Hillery.

“It really is an unmatched lifestyle opportunity.”

The area is also proudly multicultural, with the famous Curryfest celebrating Woolgoolga’s Punjabi community every year through food, music, and dancing.

The town’s appeal has only grown over time, with the median house price in the area increasing by 53% in the past five years according to realestate.com.au data.

Even with this price growth, the town remains closely held with developments like Swell being a rarity.

“Vacant land sales in the Woolgoolga catchment have been at their lowest volume for over a decade since 2022,” says Joshua Brinkley, Associate Director of Urban Economics.

“Ongoing population growth in the locality suggests that demand and price growth will continue to outpace new supply for the foreseeable future.”

Woolgoolga is a village-like coastal town where property is tightly held by locals who love the area.

Design with lifestyle in mind

Swell Woolgoolga will ultimately hold over 210 homesites, ranging from 472sqm to 1,018sqm.

“Most homesites have been benched and retained to maximise the useable area and provide efficient house building platform for buyers to build their dream home,” says Mr Hillery.

“A large percentage of these lots also benefit from direct frontage to open space.”

Beyond each individual homesite, Swell is a community that has been crafted with the coastal lifestyle that buyers are looking for in mind.

Swell surrounds the newly built $28M Wiigulga Sports Complex, giving easy access to a cafe, playground, indoor and outdoor sport facilities, and function rooms that host community events and classes.

Along with picturesque walking paths, the masterplan encourages activity and connection for residents.

“Swell is also only 1.5 kilometres from Woolgoolga Beach which was recently named Australia’s best mainland beach by Tourism Australia for 2025,” says Mr Hillery.

Swell is surrounded by amenity and convenience, only a short walk from Woolgoolga High School and close to local supermarkets, libraries, medical services, and more.

While residents in Swell will enjoy Woolgoolga’s real coastal village atmosphere, Mr Hillery explains that the city life is within reach as well.

“Woolgoolga is only a 25-minute drive to Coffs Harbour, which provides access to universities, the airport, private schools, hospital, and specialist medical facilities,” he says.

Close to the amenities of Coffs Harbour and even closer to an award-winning beach, Swell Woolgoolga balances coastal charm with convenience

Why demand is building fast

Developed by the expert team at Clarence Property, Swell is the latest quality residential community by the local developer.

Following on from their success at Casuarina Beach, Epiq Lennox Head, and Yamba Quays, Swell draws on the developer’s experience in creating communities with meaningful impact and smart design.

“Clarence Property Corporation has found a niche in developing new communities in coastal northern NSW,” says Mr Hillery.

“Over time, we have learned that new developments need to add value to the communities they are going into, and we really do strive to do that.”

Mr Hillery explains that in their developments, they have listened to what northern NSW buyers are looking for: comfortably sized land, access to lifestyle, amenity, and beaches, and well-connected communities.

With such a strong offering in a highly sought-after, yet undersupplied location, Swell has already seen very strong demand in the first two weeks, with over 60% of Stage 1 homesites already sold.

Woolgoolga agency Cardow + Partners have been appointed as exclusive agents for Swell.

Nicole Cardow, Principal, says many locals had registered their interest ahead of the recent launch to be the first in line to secure their preferred homesite.

“There has been a lot of interest from local families so far, but the types of buyers have been a real mix including downsizers as well as those looking to relocate to the Coffs Coast,” says Ms Cardow.

“People love living in this area so there has been significant pent-up demand due to a real lack of quality land releases in the area.”

Swell’s first release, The Retreat, comprises just 30 homesites priced from $490,000 and, with land settlements anticipated in mid-2026, buyers are urged to act quickly to secure their choice of homesite now.

This indicator shows how the frequency of coastal flooding has changed over time.

Figure 1. Frequency of Flooding Along U.S. Coasts, 2014–2023 Versus 1950–1959

This map shows the average number of days per year in which coastal waters rose above a local threshold for flooding at 42 sites along U.S. coasts. Each small bar graph compares the first decade of widespread measurements (1950–1959 in orange) with the most recent decade (2014–2023 in purple).

Data source: NOAA, 2024Web update: September 2024

Key Points

Background

Changing sea levels are affecting human activities in coastal areas. Rising sea level inundates low-lying wetlands and dry land, erodes shorelines, contributes to coastal flooding, and increases the flow of salt water into estuaries and nearby groundwater aquifers. Higher sea level also makes coastal infrastructure more vulnerable to damage from storms.

“Relative sea level change” refers to the height of the ocean relative to the land at a particular location. As relative sea level rises due to climate change (see the Sea Level indicator), one of the most noticeable consequences is an increase in coastal flooding. Flooding typically occurs during seasonal high tides (“king tides”) and storms that push water toward the shore. In recent years, however, coastal cities are increasingly flooding on days with less extreme tides or little wind, even on sunny days. Floods are happening more often as rising sea level reduces the gap between average sea level and the height of the land. This type of tidal flooding is expected to increase in depth, frequency, and extent in the United States during this century.

Many coastal cities have defined “nuisance” flooding (also referred to as high tide flooding) thresholds. When water rises above this level, minor impacts from flooding typically occur in some streets, many storm drains become ineffective, and a coastal flood advisory may be issued. Recurrent coastal flooding can cause impacts such as frequent road closures, reduced stormwater drainage capacity, and deterioration of infrastructure not designed to withstand frequent inundation or exposure to salt water. These impacts are of particular concern because more than 40 percent of Americans live near the coast, and more than $1 trillion of property and structures is at risk.^, Coastal flooding can also affect human health—for example, by increasing the risk that wastewater infrastructure will fail, putting people at risk of being exposed to pathogens and harmful chemicals.

About the Indicator

This indicator tracks coastal flooding based on measurements from tide gauges at locations along U.S. coasts. These devices measure water levels continuously, which makes them ideal for measuring the height of the tides, tracking long-term local relative sea level rise, and detecting coastal floods. This indicator focuses on 42 tide gauges where complete data are available from 1950 to present. The indicator tracks the number of days per year when each tide gauge measured water that was higher than a local flooding threshold determined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Figure 1 shows the 42 stations on a map and compares the first and last decades of data, while Figure 2 provides a more detailed comparison using all years of data since 1950.

About the Data

Flood thresholds for this indicator are defined based on a statistical approach that accounts for typical local fluctuations in the tides. This method is useful because it allows scientists to calculate a flood threshold for any location along the coast, as long as enough years of data have been collected. However, these flood thresholds do not necessarily correspond to a specific level of observed disruption or damage. Every city is unique in terms of land cover, topography, locations of roads and other infrastructure (how close they are to sea level), and the presence of flood defenses such as seawalls. As a result of these differences, high tide flooding that reaches the threshold in one city might only cause a minor inconvenience for a few people, while waters that reach the threshold in another city might flood large sections of a low-lying downtown area. For this reason, when considering the impacts of flooding, it is more useful to compare change over time at a single location than it is to compare patterns across different locations.

This indicator is limited to tide gauges with several decades of data. These tide gauges tend to be clustered along the East Coast, particularly in the Mid-Atlantic region. Other parts of the U.S. coast have fewer tide gauges with long-term data.

This indicator is based on hourly water level data that are publicly available from NOAA at: https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov, and it uses methods and flood thresholds developed by NOAA.

Technical Documentation

^1. May, C. L., Osler, M. S., Stockdon, H. F., Barnard, P. L., Callahan, J. A., Collini, R. C., Ferreira, C. M., Finzi Hart, J., Lentz, E. E., Mahoney, T. B., Sweet, W., Walker, D., & Weaver, C. P. (2023). Chapter 9: Coastal effects. In USGCRP (U.S. Global Change Research Program), Fifth National Climate Assessment. https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA5.2023.CH9

^2. USGCRP (U.S. Global Change Research Program). (2018). Impacts, risks, and adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, volume II (D. R. Reidmiller, C. W. Avery, D. R. Easterling, K. E. Kunkel, K. L. M. Lewis, T. K. Maycock, & B. C. Stewart, Eds.). https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA4.2018.RiB

^3. USGCRP (U.S. Global Change Research Program). (2023). Fifth National Climate Assessment (A. R. Crimmins, C. W. Avery, D. R. Easterling, K. E. Kunkel, B. C. Stewart, & T. K. Maycock, Eds.). https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA5.2023

^4. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). (2024). Tides and currents: CO-OPS derived product API [Data set]. https://api.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/dpapi/prod

^5. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). (2024). Personal communication: Alaska site data, 1950–2023.

^6. Sweet, W. V., Dusek, G., Obeysekera, J., & Marra, J. J. (2018). Patterns and projections of high tide flooding along the U.S. coastline using a common impact threshold (NOAA Technical Report NOS CO-OPS 086). NOAA/NOS Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services. https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/publications/techrpt86_PaP_of_HTFlooding.pdf

^7. Sweet, W. V., Hamlington, B. D., Kopp, R. E., Weaver, C. P., Barnard, P. L., Bekaert, D., Brooks, W., Craghan, M., Dusek, G., Frederikse, T., Garner, G., Genz, A. S., Krasting, J. P., Larour, E., Marcy, D., Marra, J. J., Obeysekera, J., Osler, M., Pendleton, M., … Zuzak, C. (2022). Global and regional sea level rise scenarios for the United States: Updated mean projections and extreme water level probabilities along U.S. coastlines (NOAA Technical Report NOS 01). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/hazards/sealevelrise/sealevelrise-tech-report.html

Learn about other indicators in this section

What you need to know: In response to recent federal actions that have undermined the independence of the CDC and raised concerns about the politicization of science, California, Oregon, and Washington are beginning the process to provide evidence-based to their residents regarding who should receive immunizations and to help ensure the public has access and credible information for confidence in vaccine safety and efficacy.

SACRAMENTO — Today, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, and Washington Governor Bob Ferguson announced they will launch a new West Coast Health Alliance to ensure residents remain protected by science, not politics. The alliance represents a unified regional response to the Trump Administration’s destruction of the U.S. CDC’s credibility and scientific integrity.

“President Trump’s mass firing of CDC doctors and scientists — and his blatant politicization of the agency — is a direct assault on the health and safety of the American people. The CDC has become a political tool that increasingly peddles ideology instead of science, ideology that will lead to severe health consequences. California, Oregon, and Washington will not allow the people of our states to be put at risk.”

Joint statement from Governors Newsom, Kotek, and Ferguson

“The dismantling of public health and dismissal of experienced and respected health leaders and advisors, along with the lack of using science, data, and evidence to improve our nation’s health are placing lives at risk,” said Erica Pan, MD, MPH, FIDSA, FAAP, Director and State Public Health Officer, California Department of Public Health. “California stands together with our public health and medical professional colleagues to uphold integrity and support our mission to protect the health of our communities.”

“Our communities deserve clear and transparent communication about vaccines — communication grounded in science, not ideology,” said Sejal Hathi, MD, MBA, Director, Oregon Health Authority. “Vaccines are among the most powerful tools in modern medicine; they have indisputably saved millions of lives. But when guidance about their use becomes inconsistent or politicized, it undermines public trust at precisely the moment we need it most. That is why Oregon is committed, alongside California and Washington, to leading with science and delivering evidence-based recommendations that protect health, save lives, and restore confidence in our public health system.”

“When federal agencies abandon evidence-based recommendations in favor of ideology, we cannot continue down that same path,” said Dennis Worsham, Secretary of Health, Washington State Department of Health. “Washington State will not compromise when it comes to our values: science drives our public health policy. Public health at its core is about prevention — preventing illness, preventing the spread of disease, and preventing early, avoidable deaths. We stand firmly with trusted medical professionals and organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, as well as fellow West Coast health agencies — whose guidance remains rooted in rigorous research and clinical expertise. Our commitment is to the health and safety of our communities, protecting lives through prevention, and not yielding to unsubstantiated theories that dismiss decades of proven public health practice.”

Details about this new Alliance

Our three states share a commitment to ensuring that public health recommendations are guided by safety, efficacy, transparency, access, and trust. The Alliance will help safeguard scientific expertise by ensuring that public health policies in California, Oregon, and Washington are informed by trusted scientists, clinicians, and other public health leaders. Through this partnership, the three states will start coordinating health guidelines by aligning immunization recommendations informed by respected national medical organizations. This will allow residents to receive consistent, science-based recommendations they can rely on — regardless of shifting federal actions.

In the coming weeks, the Alliance will finalize shared principles to strengthen public confidence in vaccines and in public health. While each state will independently pursue strategies shaped by their unique laws, geographies, histories, and peoples, these shared principles will form the foundations of the Alliance. Importantly, the three states affirm and respect Tribal sovereignty, recognizing that Tribes maintain their sovereign authority over vaccine services.

CDC’s dismantling

Since its founding, the CDC has been central to protecting Americans from disease. But recent leadership changes, reduced transparency, and the sidelining of long-trusted advisory bodies have impaired the agency’s capacity to prepare the nation for respiratory virus season and other public health challenges. In a vacuum of clear, evidence-based vaccine guidance, manufacturers lack reliable information to plan production, health care providers struggle to provide consistent plans of care, and families face uncertainty about access and coverage.

In June, California, Oregon, and Washington condemned Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s removal of all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Today, we reaffirm our commitment to science-driven decision-making. We will continue to provide clear, evidence-based guidance to people living in our states, look to scientific experts in trusted medical professional organizations for recommendations, and work with public health leaders across the country to ensure all Americans are protected. The absence of consistent, science-based federal leadership poses a direct threat to our nation’s health security. To protect the health of our communities, the West Coast Health Alliance will continue to ensure that our public health strategies are based on best available science.