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‘There’s no slump’: Expert weighs in on why eastern suburbs is no longer the richest postcode in Australia

Known as the home of celebrities, surgeons and the city’s highest earners one expert has weighed in on why the eastern suburbs is no longer the richest places in Australia.

The postcode that encompasses Point Piper, Edgecliff, and Darling Point has been bumped off the list this year.
The postcode that encompasses Point Piper, Edgecliff, and Darling Point has been bumped off the list this year.

For the first time in five years the postcode that encompasses Point Piper, Edgecliff, and Darling Point has been knocked off top spot on the Australian Taxation Office’s list of the country’s richest postcodes — although it’s not because Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs is going through an economic slump.

The 2027 area has been pipped to the title of the nation’s top taxable income earners in the 2016-17 financial year by Palm Beach - which has never cracked the top 10 before.

The views from Darling Point.
The views from Darling Point.

Part of the reason for this is the east’s top earners are now retiring to the northern beaches where they continue to earn income from property and other investments.

“It is not like there is a slump in Point Piper,” University of Sydney Emeritus Professor Frank Sitwell said.

Prof Sitwell, who lives a stone’s throw from the 2027 postcode in Elizabeth Bay, has spent more than 40 years researching economic inequality and urban inequality.

In his opinion, the latest rankings do not detail much of a change in the 2027 postcode, but what it does show is a slow migration north of high-paid professionals.

Palm Beach has taken out top spot and Professor Frank Sitwell says it is because high-paid professionals are retiring there. Picture: Jordan Shields.
Palm Beach has taken out top spot and Professor Frank Sitwell says it is because high-paid professionals are retiring there. Picture: Jordan Shields.

“It is possible that some people who live in the local area have weekenders in Palm Beach and a foot in both camps.

That is just what is happening in Palm Beach, people are upgrading their beautiful beachside properties with views of the ocean and retiring there”.

He added that Palm Beach “is becoming an exclusively elite suburb”.

The statistics released last week reveal individuals lodging a tax return within the 2027 postcode earned an average of $187,769.

That’s behind Toorak, Victoria, where residents took home an average of $193,904 a year and Palm Beach earned $230,330.

“The east has always been a place for high earners,” Prof Sitwell said.

“Given the east is accessible to the CBD it is a great place to live if you are a lawyer or surgeon but Palm Beach ... (is) a great place for, taking easy after you have done all that”.

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Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/wentworth-courier/theres-no-slump-expert-weighs-in-on-why-eastern-suburbs-is-no-longer-the-richest-postcode-in-australia/news-story/f94cebc924294eb9203f111f709822e1