Homeowners have emerged from the past year with both staggering wins and losses depending on their area as unprecedented forces turned the city market into a roulette wheel of mixed fortunes.
PropTrack valuations data revealed homeowners became more than $200,000 wealthier in many suburbs over 2024 – notably in pockets of the southwest, Greater Parramatta area, northwest and some coastal pockets.
The rises coincided with a downturn taking root in other areas, with home values falling by an average of $30,000 or more in parts of The Central Coast and suburbs around the Sydney CBD.
Home values rose in the vast majority of suburbs across the city over the past year, with the gains eclipsing the average city salary ($93,000) in many cases.
Real estate market performance has been fractured across areas.
PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty said there was a general trend of more affordable suburbs within popular city regions outperforming the rest of the market over the past year.
SEE THE FULL LIST OF SUBURBS BY HOME VALUE CHANGES
Markets where home values dropped tended to be pricier areas or they had an abundance of units up for sale, she added.
“Buyers are being priced out of a lot of suburbs so they are buying where they can afford,” she said. “Ironically, that often increases competition and the prices in that area will go up.”
Old Guildford, one of the cheaper suburbs in the Parramatta area, had one of the biggest rises in percentage terms, with house values increasing an average of 16.2 per cent annually – or about $166,000.
There was a similar trend in Fairfield East, where homeowners got an average equity boost of 15 per cent, or $122,000.
Lauren and Roberto Polanco, with sons Harvey and Lennon, at the townhouse they have for sale. Picture: Jeremy Piper
Other top growth suburbs were Castle Hill, Willoughby, Cronulla and Bondi, where homes increased in value by $200,000-$250,000 annually, according to the valuations data for every suburb.
House values within inner west suburb Strathfield jumped $475,000 for the year, while in North Curl Curl the increase was $313,000.
The impressive home value increases came despite Sydney-wide prices dropping for the last three months of 2024, with the falls so far being minor compared to price hikes recorded earlier in the year.
Ms Flaherty noted that there were two forces competing against each other: cost of living challenges meant buyers were facing budget issues but there was also a shortage of housing.
“Buyer budgets are getting smaller so the prices are dropping in some areas but it’s unlikely they will drop very far because there is still not enough housing (to contain) population growth.”
Houses in Old Guildford were a top performer for the year.
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Units in Central Coast suburbs Gorokan, Toukley and Wyong had some of the biggest value falls, dropping an average $26,000-$42,000.
Apartment values dropped an average of $37,000 in Haymarket, near the Sydney CBD, $19,000 in inner suburb Rushcutters Bay, and by about $70,000 within inner west suburb Mortlake.
Ray White Northern Beaches agent Eddy Piddington said the Sydney market had been fragmented over recent months and conditions in each suburb were dictated heavily by supply and demand.
“There’s generally a shortage of entry level houses because the families who own them are seldom selling but there are a lot of buyers who want them,” Mr Piddington said.
“We find those properties are still selling well because there are so few of them on the market.
Fairfield East, one of Sydney’s cheapest suburbs to buy a house, saw some of the biggest value increases.
“The supply of units is a lot higher. There’s more competition between sellers and not as many investors are buying them as they were before.”
Mr Piddington said upsizers, who typically influence the number of sales of cheaper houses and townhouses, were often staying put because of uncertainty about interest rates.
“Realistically a rate cut may only save homeowners about $50 or $100 a month on repayments but it will boost confidence. One of the issues for homeowners is they just don’t know what direction things will go.”
Upsizer Lauren Polanco will be listing her townhouse in Fairlight for sale next week while she seeks out a house and said competition for freestanding houses remained stiff.
“We’ve been looking for basically a year,” she said. “I think it’s been about 50 inspections. It’s been very difficult to make that jump from a townhouse to a house. Some of the houses sell in a couple of days.”
She added that the market had changed markedly in the two years since they bought their current home on Austin St. “Prices have gone up a lot since then.”
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