Sydney brokerage Shore Financial has revealed the top-performing suburbs over the past year, despite property prices falling across most parts of the city.
The quarterly Shore Financial State of Sydney Report analyses the 600-plus suburbs across the city and picks the top five in each quintile based on changes in their median house price over the previous 12 months to August 2022.
The quintiles are Quintile 1 = Working Class Sydney, Quintile 2 = Suburban Sydney, Quintile 3 = Rising Sydney, Quintile 4 = Professional Sydney and Quintile 5 = Elite Sydney. To ensure the analysis is rigorous, suburbs are excluded if they do not meet certain benchmarks and trends related to asking prices, days on market, inventory levels and sales volumes over the previous three months.
The Working Class Sydney and Suburban Sydney suburbs are in the outer ring, while the Rising Sydney, Professional Sydney and Elite Sydney suburbs are in the middle and inner rings.
Shore Financial CEO Theo Chambers (pictured above) revealed the top five ranked suburbs in each quintile.
“Working Class Sydney’s top suburb was Oakhurst where the median house price jumped 20.0% in the year to August,” he said. “This was closely followed by Prestons, Liverpool, Minto and St Helens Park which rounded out the top five.”
Chambers said Suburban Sydney’s leading suburb was Fairfield West where house prices rose 19.1%.
“This was followed closely by North Rocks, Guildford West, Chester Hill and Condell Park,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kirrawee led the way in the Rising Sydney quintile, experiencing 19.5% price growth.
“The suburbs of Bangor, Erskineville, Forest Lodge and Penshurst rounded out the top five in Rising Sydney,” he said.
As for the number one suburb in Professional Sydney, that was Elanora Heights which enjoyed 18.2% house price growth.
“This was very closely followed by Marrickville, North Epping, Dulwich Hill and Avalon Beach,” Chambers explained.
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Chambers said that Elite Sydney’s standout performer was Frenchs Forest where the median house price climbed 19.2%.
“The suburbs of Lindfield, Paddington, Concord and Lane Cove rounded out the top five in this quintile,” he said.
He noted that Frenchs Forest was a standout in Elite Sydney as the city’s population was becoming denser, meaning units were increasingly replacing houses.
“However, in Frenchs Forest, 93% of homes are still freestanding houses which tells you that it’s an affluent family suburb with a lot of character and highly desirable as a result,” he said. “In August 2021, the median days on market in Frenchs Forest was an already low 23 days, compared to just 22 days in August 2022.”
Overall, Chambers said the Sydney property market had significantly changed since the previous analysis conducted in March this year.
“Back then, the average annual price growth for the standout suburbs was an astonishing 49.2% however it now is 18.6% for the suburbs in our report. That shows you the market has significantly cooled,” he said.
“The average inventory level for these suburbs (amount of time it would take to sell all the houses or units in a particular location if they kept selling at the current rate and no more were added to the market) is a low 1.7 months, which tells you that buyers have relatively few properties to choose from, which is why the average days on market for these suburbs is just 24 days.”
However, the Sydney market is likely to look very different when the next analysis occurs in six months’ time.
“Prices are likely to continue trending down in most parts of Sydney for a bit longer, but it’s hard to say how much longer the downturn will last,” he said. “It’s important to remember prices skyrocketed during the boom which means it’s likely only a share of those gains will be given back. If you’re a buyer, conditions are more favourable than earlier in the year.”
Chambers said anyone who wanted to buy into the Sydney property market should see a broker to obtain pre-approval first.
“With interest rates rising so regularly, the average person’s borrowing capacity is falling and is somewhat of a moving target, meaning buyers need to know before they make an offer exactly how much they can borrow,” he said.
“Buyers should speak to a Shore Financial broker because we have good relationships with dozens of lenders and our experienced brokers know which ones will be the best match for a buyer’s requirements and objectives. Once the buyer’s offer is accepted, our brokers will also help the buyer get unconditional finance approval and manage the process through to settlement."
