AIDAN DEVINE The Daily Telegraph November 17, 2017 12:00am
THEY are in the same city but different pockets of Sydney have emerged poles apart from the recent housing boom.
THEY may be in the same city but different pockets of Sydney have emerged poles apart from the recent housing boom.
Prices have continued to surge at boom-like levels in the city’s harbour suburbs and northern beaches while falling in construction hot spots such as Parramatta, Sydney Olympic Park and the airport precinct.
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Research group CoreLogic figures showed the most popular suburbs recorded price growth of more than 20 per cent over the past year, while the biggest price falls were upwards of 10 per cent and tended to be in areas with a large supply of new apartments and even more high-rise unit projects in the pipeline.
The top performing suburb was Forestville, near the under-construction Northern Beaches Hospital, where the median value of detached houses went up 32.6 per cent.
Typical values in other northern beaches suburbs surged by about 22 per cent.
The weakest performing area was Eastwood, surrounded by new housing projects, where the median apartment price tanked 15.4 per cent.
Realestate.com.au chief economist Nerida Conisbee said northern beaches prices increased so rapidly because listings attracted the most interest from buyers.
A recent realestate.com.au study showed suburbs in the region topped a list of areas with the most clicked-on listings online.
Much of that demand was from buyers priced out of the eastern suburbs, Ms Conisbee said.
“People who would have bought in the east are now looking at other areas where they can still live by the beach but get a house for cheaper,” Ms Conisbee said.
“Since there aren’t many homes for sale (in the beaches) that greater number of people wanting to buy has pushed up the prices.”
IT worker Bas Breure recently purchased a unit in North Manly and said opportunities to get into the market there were few and far between.
“There aren’t a lot of good three-bedroom houses that come onto the market,” he said.
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“People we know who live in North Manly have been there forever. They love living there and have no reason to move.”
Hunters Hill house values also recorded significant increases at 32.1 per cent, while in Lane Cove the average increase was 27.2 per cent.
Such growth defied softening activity in the rest of Sydney. The citywide median dwelling price has moved just 4.8 per cent this calendar year to $905,917 — well down on the 15.5 per cent growth over 2016 and 11.5 per cent over 2015.
“Prices are dictated by supply and demand and when buyers have more options ... there isn’t the same pressure to (offer) more,” he said.
The median apartment price in construction hotbed Sydney Olympic Park is 9.5 per cent lower than a year ago, while unit prices in Concord dropped by an average of 7.2 per cent, in Rydalmere and Ermington they fell roughly 7 per cent and near the airport in Hillsdale they dropped 10.5 per cent.
Median apartment prices also fell 15 per cent in Forest Lodge and Annandale. SQM Research director Louis Christopher said the area around Parramatta was most concerning because it was “heavily oversupplied with units”.
— with additional reporting by Owen Roberts
Originally published as Property price tale of two cities
AIDAN DEVINE The Daily Telegraph November 17, 2017 12:00am
