As the end of this year comes to a close, it’s time to look back on the trials and triumphs of the property market over the past twelve months.
2023 was the first year unmarred by some form of Covid restrictions since the pandemic upended our lives, but its effects still lingered when it came to property prices and suburb migration. The RBA raised interest rates more than Alan Joyce raised his own salary, while foreign investors kicked more goals than the Matildas vs France penalty shootout.
According to Proptrack’s latest report, Sydney’s house price growth increased by 9.12% over the year, and 5.91% for units. The Sydney suburb that saw the highest home price growth year-on-year was the prestigious Bellevue Hill in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, with the median increasing by 24.9% to $9.73 million over the year to November. CoreLogic’s latest Best of the Best report shows on average, houses there accumulated almost $2 million in capital growth in the last 12 months. Bellevue Hill also took out three of the top five spots for highest national sales, with $76M and $61.5M sales in May and a $39.35M house sale in September.
Meanwhile, according to PropTrack, the much lesser known suburb of Denistone East in Northern Sydney saw a 17% increase. Clontarf also saw 17% growth, placing the harbour side suburb among the Sydney suburbs with the highest median home value, at $5,523,000.
The Greater Western suburb of Parklea saw 16% home price growth over the year, while Marrickville continued to prove its popularity as an Inner West hotspot with 15% growth. In Vaucluse, prices lifted 15.2% cent over the year to $9.26M, and although Double Bay enjoyed 16.7% median house price growth, the exclusive suburb was unceremoniously booted from the $2M Unit Club in September.
Further west, in Baulkham Hills, a 14.3% annual change in median value saw medians swell to $2,021,88, while Hornsby’s median increased upwards of $1.43M, up 13.6%.
From opposite ends of the Sydney map, both Warringah and Blacktown experienced 13.7% growth, while Strathfield’s median increased 12.9% to $929,885. Zooming out further, nationally, the three top performing suburbs in terms of home price growth over the past 12 months were Perth’s Armadale (34% growth), South Australia’s Elizabeth North (up 30%), and Queensland’s Riverview, up 24%.
But what goes up must also go down, and this year in Sydney, Ultimo and Chippendale serve as proof, with a 14.4% and 14.5% decline in median house prices. Nearby Rosebery also saw a decline of around 10% from last year, with medians now at $1.6M.
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Over the bridge in Cromer—the Northern Beaches enclave that boomed during the sea change era of the pandemic—prices have fallen from a 2022 median of $2,425,000 to $1,977,000 in September this year, forcing them to also hand back their $2M club membership.
And although Lakemba has long held the title of Sydney’s cheapest suburb within 15km of the CBD, this year it saw the strongest growth in rents, with a 28.10% increase.
And that’s a wrap.
