This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
HOUSE prices in Sydney’s exclusive eastern locale of Bellevue Hill surged by an eye-watering $4.2 million in the year to February, giving it the biggest gain of the city’s 600-plus suburbs in the market boom.
Shore Financial’s quarterly State of Sydney report identified the Sydney suburbs within a range five price points that have outperformed the market over that time. The snapshot comes as Sydney prices softened in February for the first time in September 2020. Commonwealth Bank downgraded its forecast in response to a 3% fall in 2022, while AMP Capital expects Sydney prices to reach their peak by mid-year if they haven’t already.
Sydney’s median prices had lifted 22.4% over the 12 months to February, hitting $1.116 million, according to CoreLogic.
Shore Financial’s quintiles are based on their current median asking price for houses, and labelled “working class”, “suburban”, “rising” “professional” and “elite”, and picks five suburbs from each. Bellevue Hill was included in the “elite” quintile, and its house price nearly doubled over 12 months to $8.41 million. Fellow eastern suburb Vaucluse saw $2.77 million in growth to $8.175 million, and Bronte was fourth with $1.95 million growth to $5.4 million.
The Northern Beaches was home to third and fifth on both the elite and whole-of-Sydney lists. Clontarf’s price jumped by more than $2 million to $5.34 million, while Narrabeen – where just 15% of dwellings are freestanding houses – grew $1.75 million to $4.05 million.
Inventory levels in the bracket’s top suburbs are a month or under, and houses in Bronte and Clontarf are being snapped up in just 13 and 16 days on average respectively.
In the “working class” bracket, Austral came in at a clear number one with a $360,500 increase to $860,000, followed by Summerland Point with a $250,000 rise, and then Canton Beach, Noraville and The Entrance.
The top-ranked suburb in professional Sydney was Taren Point, which saw its median house price jump $969,000 to $2.3 million. Narraweena was next, up $706,200 to $2.31 million, and then close behind were North Ryde, Glenorie and Monterey.
Wamberal, in “rising” Sydney, enjoyed a $554,000 boost to its median house price over the year to $1.645 million. Gains either side of $500,000 were seen in Scotland Island, Loftus, Yarrawarrah and Erina.
Box Hill easily took out first place in the suburban Sydney bracket with a $265,000 lift, now sitting at $882,000. Appin was next with a $165,000 rise, followed by Bonnyrigg, Lansvale and Horningsea Park.
“The past 12 months have been extraordinary, with prices going through the roof in most Sydney suburbs” Shore Financial CEO Theo Chambers said.
“That’s reflected in the home loans data we’ve been seeing, with borrowers regularly increasing their loan amounts to keep up with surging prices,” he said.
For most of the suburbs in the report, inventory levels are under two months and days on market are under 30 days.
“In other words, supply is low and demand is high.” Chambers said.
SQM Research data showed nearly 6,800 properties were tipped onto the market in February as activity ramped up for the year. There are a total of 27,662 properties up for grabs.
“The numbers might look very different this time next year, because the evidence suggests the Sydney market is softening. But for the past 12 months and also right now, Sydney has been a seller’s market,” Chambers said.
