More than a quarter of Sydney suburbs have a median house price of $2m

Median house prices have topped the $2 million mark in more than a quarter of Sydney suburbs, with areas such as Eastwood, Matraville and Caringbah South among the latest to join the club.

Buoyed by Sydney’s booming property market, prices across dozens of suburbs hit and surpassed a $2 million median house price last year, Domain figures show.

Median house prices in Croydon and more than a dozen other suburbs topped the $2 million mark late last year. Credit: Peter Rae

Cherrybrook and Glenhaven in the city’s north-west, Blakehurst and Woolooware in the south, and Croydon and Five Dock in the inner west were among the suburbs that made it into the growing cohort last quarter after their median prices increased by hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2021.

They follow the likes of Byron Bay, West Pennant Hills, Cromer and Mona Vale, where typical house prices crossed the $2 million threshold earlier last year.

“It’s quite stark,” Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell said of the growing club, noting the median price tag once limited to premium suburbs had rippled out.

A decade ago it was suburbs such as Mosman – with a 2011 median of $2,225,000 – that ranked among the once prestigious club, while Bronte, Woollahra and Rose Bay had yet to hit the $2 million mark. Medians across such suburbs now range from $4.25 million in Woollahra to $5.45 million in Bronte.

By last quarter, 26 per cent of analysed Sydney suburbs had a typical house price of more than $2 million, with the concentration largely on the north shore, northern beaches, city and eastern suburbs and inner west. Suburbs needed a minimum of 50 sales over the year to record a median.

About 60 per cent of suburbs had a typical house price above $1 million – a milestone Greater Sydney’s median first reached back in 2015.

“The dynamics of what we deem as an elite price point for a suburb has absolutely changed because we’ve seen Sydney’s median price lift to $1.6 million,” Dr Powell said.

Rapidly rising prices meant house hunters with $2 million to spend are increasingly looking at entry-level homes in suburbs such as North Ryde and Ryde, which also passed that price point last quarter.

A three-bedroom house in Ryde, set to be knocked down to make way for a new home, sold for $2.12 million in December. The sale was close to the suburb median of $2.095 million. Credit: McGrath Ryde

Those after a freestanding house would need to look to an older home, often unrenovated, on a 500-square-metre block, said selling agent Michael Dowling of McGrath Ryde. Homes on odd-shaped blocks and main roads were also hitting the $2 million mark, but entry-level houses on larger blocks with development potential were now going for $2.4 to $2.5 million.

Buyers were typically young families looking to upgrade from a townhouse or apartment, with first-home buyers largely now limited to the unit market, Mr Dowling said. While many were locals, there were also more priced-out buyers coming from the inner west and north shore for better value for money.

Prices in both suburbs climbed more than $500,000 last year to medians of $2.2 million in North Ryde and $2,095,000 in Ryde.

Nearby North Epping, with a median of $1.99 million, was closing in on the $2 million mark, as were suburbs such as MacMasters Beach on the Central Coast ($1,987,500), Oatley in the city’s south ($1,982,000) and Forest Lodge in the inner west ($1,976,500).

A two-bedroom Caringbah South home on about 600 square metres sold for close to the $2.05 million suburb median in December. Credit: Gibson Partners Real Estate

In the Sutherland Shire, Woolooware just scraped into the club with a median of $2 million, while the typical house price in neighbouring Caringbah South climbed to $2.05 million.

Again, entry-level homes in the suburbs, such as knockdowns on blocks with development potential, were selling for upwards of $2 million, according to Ivan Lampret, managing director of Gibson Partners Real Estate. While some homes on smaller blocks were still in reach for those with a $2 million budget, such properties were in short supply.

“There is still a severe shortage of anything in the high $1 million to low $2 million [range]; that market is still growing because of that,” Mr Lampret said.

Steep price gains had left some house hunters, particularly first-home buyers, shocked at asking prices now seen for typical homes in the two suburbs – which had median sales prices below $1.5 million back in 2019.

“Once they’re starting to put their toes in the water, they are going ‘oh my god’,” Mr Lampret said.

Meanwhile, the median sale price in neighbouring Burraneer lifted almost $900,000 last year, pushing the peninsula suburb’s median price past $3 million.

Birchgrove in the inner west, North Balgowlah and Avalon Beach on the northern beaches and Camerray and Chatswood on the north shore were also among the suburbs where median house prices surpassed $3 million last quarter. Meanwhile, Clovelly, North Bondi and Woollahra joined the ranks of the $4 million club.

Dr Powell said steam was starting to come out of the property market, with stronger levels of new listings and a slowdown in demand resulting in a build-up of total stock that was giving buyers more choice. However, she still expected more suburbs push into a higher price bracket in the months to come, as prices were still rising annually.

“We are going to see that weakness first in our high-priced markets. What you see in terms of price growth is that ripple effect, you see premium suburbs lead in terms of price growth and then they also typically lead the downturn,” she added.