Home prices have climbed in the far majority of suburbs but there have been rare pockets where they have also gone backward.
Sydney’s resurgence in real estate values has left a surprising trail of losers — and they’re not where you’d expect.
Prices across Greater Sydney have soared by an average of about 5 per cent over the past year, but values in a string of once high-flying suburbs have quietly been slipping backwards.
Exclusive PropTrack data showed many of these suburbs were exclusive harbourside postcodes, along with beachside playgrounds in The Central Coast.
The biggest falls were about 12 per cent over the year to September, according to the automated valuation data, which examined every suburb with at least 10 sales.
Some of the steepest falls were in prime Harbour suburbs Kirribilli, Kurraba Point and Cremorne Point, where unit values dropped by an average of 8-9 per cent over the year.
This represented an average value loss of about $120,000 for local homeowners, according to the automated valuation data.
Industry insiders told The Daily Telegraph these areas were typically unaffected by interest rate changes as buyers rarely borrowed with large loans relative to the properties’ values.
They instead tended to be more influenced by the overall health of the economy and the business sector, which has been lacklustre over the past year.
The Central Coast’s prestige holiday enclaves also went into decline, with Terrigal’s median unit value tumbling 12 per cent and unit values in nearby Avoca Beach dropping 6 per cent annually.
Agents said the retreat in these Central Coast markets reflects a pullback in demand for holiday apartments and second homes as cashed-up Sydneysiders rein in spending amid a sluggish economy.
Prices have been rising across the market as a whole, with auction activity becoming particularly strong. Picture: Thomas Lisson.
Further west, parts of the Parramatta region were another epicentre of Sydney’s apartment price pain.
Suburbs such as South Granville, Telopea, North Rocks and Dundas Valley all recorded annual unit price declines, with a high supply of new apartment developments weighing on values.
Auctioneer and real estate expert Tom Panos has called multiple sales in the region and said it was apparent that units were not performing as well as houses, which were growing strongly.
“I had a local agent tell me they wished units would do what houses are doing,” Mr Panos said, adding that unit price falls were almost always the result of oversupply.
“It sounds overly simplistic but if there are too many of a certain kind of unit in one area and not enough buyers who want them then the prices will go down.
“Prices going backwards in an area almost always comes down to supply far outweighing demand.”
Source: PropTrack AVM data.
Unit price falls in some Sydney pockets were a stark contrast to the double-digit growth seen in cheaper unit markets across outer western Sydney.
This higher level of growth was largely the result of the cheaper prices attracting more first-home buyers and investors.
PropTrack economist Angus Moore said affordability was drawing buyers to regions like Blacktown and the Outer West.
“You’d expect people to be looking for more affordable options, be that a little bit further out from the city or a free unit over a detached house,” he said.
Mr Moore said the data showed minor but consistent improvement across Sydney as a whole.
“There’s not massive differences across Sydney in the pace of price growth at the moment,” he said.
“This year has really been a story of kind of relatively consistent growth across Sydney as opposed to, you know, one or two parts of Sydney really outperforming.”
One area where unit prices have been growing strongly is the Blacktown region, which remains one of the cheapest markets to buy both units and houses.
LJ Hooker Blacktown selling agent Clair Andree-Evarts said the unit market in the region had a significant turnaround.
“There has been oversupply, I’d say the last two years the unit market has been quite flat,” she said.
“But at the moment we’re finding everything that we’re listing tends to sell within about two or three weeks.”
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