This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
Research released yesterday by PRD Nationwide shows that the New South Wales million dollar plus house market continues to grow in leaps and bounds.
According to PRD, in 1995, a total of 803 $1 million+ house sales were recorded in NSW. Over the 12 months ending December 2005, a total of 4,290 one million dollar house sales were recorded throughout NSW.
PRD research manager Jon Salvador said several major factors continue to drive the NSW million dollar plus housing market.
“The demand for scarce properties located in the coastal, inner city, harbour and river front areas, especially within Greater Sydney, have been growing steadily as more and more people seek homes and holiday properties close to the water,” Salvador said.
He added that more homes are being architecturally designed and many new housing estates are targeting the upper end of the market through location, level of fit-out, facilities and overall design concept.
“In the case of Sydney, prices have caught up with its place in the international arena as one of the best cities in the world to live in,” he added.
Sydney was voted the World’s Best City eight times in 10 years, by the New York based Travel + Leisure magazine.
Over the 12 months ending December 2005, a total of 2,958 houses were sold with a price of at least one million dollars.
Out of the top twenty, Gosford is the only LGA outside Sydney SD, recording 99 sales over one million during 2005. Out of the top twenty suburbs by number of $1million+ house sales, 11 suburbs are north “over the bridge”, 7 are on the Eastern Suburbs and 2 are on the Inner West areas.
To the east, the classic suburbs of Paddington, Randwick and Vaucluse, rank high on the top twenty list again being historic areas, located within 5km form Sydney’s CBD, with large blocks of land andin most cases harbour views.
As far as the apartment market is concerned PRD found that Sydney continues to show considerable depth.
Between the year 2000 and 2005 the million dollar plus unit market recorded an average of more than 1,000 sales each year, with the highest volume of sales recorded in the year 2003 at 1,704.
“The increase depth in the Sydney’s premium unit market stems from the increasing popularity of units as a living option. A variety of market segments now consider apartment living to be an ideal alternative to traditional detached styles of property,” Salvador added.
He said empty nesters are down sizing from the suburban family home to waterside and inner city apartment living because it provides easier maintenance, access to facilities (such as larger swimming pools, concierge, well equipped gymnasium, theaters and landscaped gardens), higher levels of security and social amenity.
“Inner city professionals see the luxury inner city unit market as an ideal location because of their proximity to work, restaurants, nightclubs and cafes,” the PRD research manager added.
The highest number of million dollar plus unit sales are occurring in the City of Sydney LGA.
According to the PRD report, over the twelve months ending December 2005, a total of 447 million dollar plus apartments were sold within the suburbs of Sydney City, Pyrmont, Wooloomooloo, Dawnes Point, Elizabeth Bay and Potts Point. Out of the top 20 suburbs, five are within the Eastern Suburbs and six suburbs are located north “over the bridge”.
By Adam Parsons
