NSW’s cheapest beach suburbs: where you can buy houses for under $800k

A changing property market has opened a window of opportunity for home buyers to get bargain beach houses, with the cheapest deals as low as $350k. See where to find them.

It’s the quintessential Aussie aspiration – a house within footsteps of the beach – and it’s becoming a cheaper reality for home seekers.

Plummeting home prices and reduced competition for property have opened a window of opportunity for home buyers to snap up beach houses for under $800,000 in parts of Sydney.

Houses up and down the NSW coast are being offered for even less, with some deals coming in at close to $350,000, according to a PropTrack study of property transactions within all the state’s beach suburbs.

Some of the cheapest deals even included houses directly on the beachfront, where ocean breezes and the sounds of crashing waves were a feature in the rooms.

It’s come as interest rate rises and waning buyer confidence continue to soften the housing market, pressuring sellers to cut prices. It’s also allowed buyers room to negotiate deals on ocean homes.

A unit at Solitary Islands Way, Sapphire Beach is for sale at $340,000.

Buyer demand for coastal homes has further moderated since the peak of the Covid pandemic in 2021, when remote working and increased time at home spurred a wave of migration to beach destinations.

PropTrack economist Angus Moore said the trend has continued in recent months but nowhere near the intensity as during the heights of the pandemic.

It’s opened up opportunities for buyers, he said. “Rates will put downward pressure on prices and that trend to (sea-change) is pulling back from where it was in 2021,” Mr Moore said.

Buyer’s agent Linda Johnson of Spring Buyers Agency said many of the homes purchased during the height of the pandemic are re-entering the market for sale – especially on the Central Coast, where some of the most frantic buying was in 2021.

Greater Sydney’s cheapest beach suburb to buy a house was Budgewoi, a northern suburb of the Central Coast. The median price of houses in the area was $750,000.

This was about $450,000 cheaper than the average cost of all categories of detached houses across Sydney as a whole.

Ryan and Kate Middlebrook with daughters Mila and Hallie, said the comparatively cheaper Manly Vale area has offered a good beach lifestyle . Picture: David Swift

The Middlebrook family are now selling up their home to upsize. Picture: David Swift

Agents noted that prices in the suburb were the cheapest among beach areas on the Central Coast largely because of the further distance to Sydney.

The cheapest beach units were on offer 15km to the south in the Central Coast suburb of The Entrance, with the median price hitting $660,000.

Buyer’s agent Michelle Tucker said most of the cheapest deals were beach houses requiring some work.

Within the Sydney basin, Brighton Le Sands units were the cheapest with a median of $711,000, followed by units in Little Bay, where the median was $812,000, according to PropTrack.

These prices were a far sight from many of Sydney’s most traditionally popular beach suburbs.

Median prices for houses near Manly, Clovelly, Bronte, Rose Bay, Palm Beach and Double Bay ranged from $4.25m-$6m, on average.

Vaucluse, home to numerous Harbour beaches such as Milk Beach, Queens Beach and Shark Beach, was the most expensive beach suburb in the country, with a median of $9.1m.

The south coast town of Eden was the cheapest beach suburb to buy property in all of NSW, with units costing an average of $370,000. Other cheap beach towns were Korora in the Coffs Harbour area and Boomerang Beach, between Newcastle and Port Macquarie.

Most of these units were small one- and two-bedroom cabins requiring a renovation or repairs.

Mr Moore said home seekers could find cheap beach houses if they were prepared to look in areas outside the most popular beach regions. “Lesser known areas will be cheaper,” he said.

This property at Merry Beach Rd, Kioloa is for sale for $450,000-$475,000.

Among NSW’s cheapest dwellings currently up for sale near the beach is a one-bedroom unit in Sapphire Beach in the Coffs Harbour region. It’s for sale at $340,000.

A one-bedroom unit 800m from Cabarita Beach in the Tweed area is $300,000.

Within Greater Sydney, the cheapest property directly on the beach – excluding retirement villas and serviced apartments – is a two-bedroom unit on Frances St in The Entrance, for sale at $950,000.

Ryan and Kate Middlebrook are optimistic they can get a good deal on their next home.

The pair are selling their current home on Campbell Pde in Manly Vale through McGrath agent Tim Cullen and want to upgrade to something bigger in the area.

We’ve got great neighbours and it’s a great area,” Mr Middlebrook said. “It’s been great to be able to talk a quick walk to the local shops and is a five-minute drive to Manly beach.”

Originally published as NSW’s cheapest beach suburbs: where you can buy houses for under $800k