Bought for $150k: where Sydney home buyers get best deals

Property hunters have recently bought Sydney homes for as little as $150,000, with research revealing the city’s best buyer’s markets. See how your suburb compares

• Related: Sydney records hat-trick of home price rises

Home seekers have been snapping up Sydney properties for as low as $150,000 in a range of city regions where a higher supply of available homes has put buyers in the driver’s seat.

The rock bottom property deals followed spectacular falls in home prices and reduced buyer competition since the Reserve Bank of Australia began hiking interest rates last year.

The bulk of the cheapest sales were in the Parramatta region, which has become the city’s most fertile hunting ground for bargain seekers, PropTrack data has revealed.

There were multiple apartment sales within the region at under $250,000 – mostly older style units needing modern updates.

Prices at a fraction of the Sydney norm were also paid in parts of the inner west, Liverpool area and north shore.

Paul Harkin and Samuel McKeown are sellig a unit in Rockdale, one of Sydney’s best value suburbs. Picture: Julian Andrews

This included eight apartment sales within 15km of the CBD with a price at $300,000 or under – the cheapest being the $210,000 traded for a studio on Church St in Ashfield.

Homebuyers outside Sydney got even lower deals, with the cheapest home sale in NSW coming in at just $29,500, according to the analysis of sales over the year to March. The $29,500 was paid for a house in Pooncarie in southwestern NSW.

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For comparison, the median price of units across Sydney as a whole is about $760,000, while houses average over $1.2m.

PropTrack economist Paul Ryan said Sydney’s cheapest sales showed there were opportunities for homebuyers to get into the market for less if they were prepared to compromise.

“There are still reasonably affordable properties in some areas,” he said. “They are not premium properties by any stretch. You would have to make sacrifices or be prepared to get your hands dirty but, for resourceful buyers, it’s an option.”

A unit in this building on Union Rd in Auburn sold for $150,000, the cheapest price paid in Sydney over the past year.

He added that there would still be opportunities for bargain hunters even as the Sydney market continued to improve – evidenced by minor citywide climbs in prices over January, February and March.

Mr Ryan said there was a wide variance in market conditions across Sydney. “Prices aren’t rising again everywhere,” he said.

Areas with a lower supply of available housing and greater buyer demand – coastal regions and inner suburbs – were usually less favourable for bargain hunters.

Regions with a high-level of recent development, resulting in more choice for buyers, tended to be less competitive, Mr Ryan said.

The bulk of Sydney’s cheapest suburbs had a stream of recent housing developments, according to PropTrack rankings of suburbs by median prices.

A unit in the building on Church St in Ashfield sold for $210,000, the cheapest sale in Sydney's inner ring over the past year.

The city’s cheapest suburbs were neighbouring Wiley Park and Lakemba, where unit prices were typically $385,000 and $390,000, respectively.

The cheapest suburbs within Sydney’s “inner ring”, or suburbs within 15km of the CBD, tended to be within the St George region and parts of the inner west and Canterbury area.

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They included Croydon Park, where apartments average $605,000, and Campsie, where the unit prices averaged $610,000.

The cheapest inner suburbs to purchase freestanding houses were concentrated near Sydney Airport, including Banksia, Arncliffe, Tempe and St Peters.

Paul Harkin is selling an apartment in Rockdale, one of the cheaper inner suburbs for unit buyers, and said the area was “great value”.

“We had been living in the eastern suburbs before we moved here, but the space wasn’t great,” he said.

Multiple units in this building at 95 Station Rd in Auburn sold for under $200,000.

“Here you can get a lot more, but you’re near the train, near the (M5) motorway. It’s a great place for first homebuyers who want a lot more space.”

Mr Harkin is hoping to upgrade to house and said he has been encouraged by what’s available.

“The options aren’t depressing like maybe they would have been before. I feel like the stuff out there is good value. There’s just isn’t much for sale, that’s more the problem.”

McGrath agent Trent Tarbey said suburbs like Rockdale were popular because they were “in the sweet spot for first homebuyers”.

“There are a lot of apartments under $700,000 so first homebuyers can get government incentives,” he said.

“There has also been a lot of development, especially along the Princes Highway, so buyers have more to choose from. That’s kept prices steady.”

Originally published as Bought for $150k: where Sydney home buyers get best deals