Golden double-boom decade for Sydney property

Homeowners across Sydney are cashing in with stunning suburban lottery wins after an unprecedented 10 years of home value growth, fuelled by two property booms.

24/3/22 WEEKEND TELEGRAPH SPECIAL. MUST NOT USE BEFORE CLEARING WITH PIC EDITOR JEFF DARMANIN. Rebecca Mitchell, husband Justin Mitchell, daughter Tahlia, 16, and son Jacob, 14 pictured at their Luddenham home today. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

It has been Sydney real estate’s golden decade.

An unprecedented 10 years of home value growth, fuelled by two property booms.

The result? Sydney’s median house price has increased from $568,000 in 2012, to a stunning $1.315 million today, according to REA data.

While owners of average homes have seen significant value increases over that 10 years, some folk have won the suburb lottery, cashing in with incredible value gain windfalls.

Take the people of Luddenham for example. In 2012, the median house price in the Western Sydney suburb was $477,500. Not bad for homes mostly attached to hectares of land.

But Sydney’s first boom of the decade began the next year and, soon after that, the federal government confirmed that the city’s second airport would be built at nearby Badgerys Creek.

Fast forward to 2022 and Luddenham’s median house value is now at $3.325 million. That’s a 700 per cent increase.

Rebecca Mitchell, husband Justin Mitchell, daughter Tahlia, 16, and son Jacob, 14 pictured at their Luddenham home. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

REA data shows that the suburb has had average growth of 21.4 per cent each year for the decade, making it the best performing postcode for that period in Greater Sydney.

The second best performer was neighbouring Bringelly, which has averaged 15.5 per cent growth annually and seen its median house value skyrocket from $945,000 to $4 million.

Gerroa on the south coast was the third best performer, its median jumping from $750,000 to $2.875 million, on the back of 14.4 per cent yearly growth.

Ettalong Beach (13.2 per cent annual growth), Palm Beach (13.2 per cent) and Pearl Beach (13 per cent) were next, while Fairlight (12.8 per cent), Copacabana (12.7 per cent), Oakville (12.5 per cent) and Point Piper (12.4 per cent) rounded out the top 10.

REA economist Paul Ryan called Sydney’s market over the past decade “remarkable”.

“It’s been an unprecedented period in housing price growth,” Mr Ryan said. “We’ve seen really fast episodes of housing price growth in the past, but nothing as sustained as this post 2012 period.”

Mr Ryan said the growth from 2013 had been overdue as the previous decade was stagnant for value movements.

“From 2003 to 2012 Sydney saw growth of just 17 per cent in total,” he said. “We have become used to Sydney being the biggest property performer, but in that period it actually had the smallest house price growth of all major capitals across Australia.”

All up, a remarkable 163 suburbs had seen average annual growth of at least 10 per cent in greater Sydney.

Auction at 25A Windermere Rd, Epping in Sydney: sold for $2.605m. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Areas that were well represented on the list were the Northern Beaches, Central Coast, Inner West and Western Sydney, which of course had the top two suburbs on the list.

Douglas Driscoll, CEO of Western Sydney’s market leading real estate agency Starr Partners, said the stellar performance of the area did not surprise locals.

“There was only one way geographically that Sydney was ever going to grow and that’s west,” Mr Driscoll said. “A lot of these areas were underdeveloped 10 years ago, but urban sprawl has seen gentrification, large employment hubs at places like Marsden Park, Parramatta, Bella Vista and Wetherill Park.

“The quality of schools and everything else has improved beyond recognition and the south west corridor especially will also be the site of future growth.”

Rebecca Mitchell moved her family to Luddenham from the city in 2014, buying a block of land for $610,000 and building a new house.

“We were looking to move to a quiet town with our kids,” Ms Mitchell said. “My hubby works from a shed and the kids are very active in sport. It was ideal for us.”

At the time, Ms Mitchell didn’t realise that “quiet town” would be Sydney’s best performing suburb for the next eight years.

And now, CoreLogic estimates their home to be worth at least $3 million.

“We have spoken about selling, especially since there’s been an increase in house prices,” Ms Mitchell said. “But Luddenham is ideal for us. We’re close to family, all the facilities we need and that my parents need, including medical. It’s close to our kids’ school, sports and the M4 and M7.

“With the development going on around us, more facilities will be available, a train line and university at our door step, a new motorway and a new airport just seven minutes away.”

But Ms Mitchell’s favourite thing about Luddenham is its lovely locals.

The Mitchells struck gold in Luddenham. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“We always bump into friendly faces at the shops, a lot of those people were incredibly supportive during lockdown. There was a guy with a coffee truck that drove around offering us free milk,” she said. “It’s the locals that really make this suburb special.”

Gina Younan has played the property decade to perfection. Buying a block of land early in 2013 in Winston Hills, she built a modern five-bedroom, three-bathroom house, which became a very happy family home for herself, her two kids and her mother.

“When I bought the land, the market was just dead, but everything changed very quickly,” Ms Younan said. “I bought mine for $460,000, and the same block behind me sold for more than $700,000 only a short time afterwards.

“Now, they tell me the land alone would be worth $1.8 to $2 million.”

Her kids have now grown up and Gina is selling to downsize locally, cashing in on an extraordinary decade of growth that has seen Winston Hills’ median go from $577,500 to $1.418 million, at an average growth rate of 9.4 per cent, per year.

Gina’s selling agent, Ray White’s Andrew Drane, is negotiating with a number of potential buyers, and said a suburb record result is on the table. He’s already had offers of more than $2.3 million.

“It’s my most popular property by a mile,” Mr Drane said, adding that Sydney’s current market slowdown was yet to affect quality properties. “Good properties, in good locations and with good land are still getting great prices. It’s the properties that back onto main roads or not in ideal locations that are getting harder to sell.”