NSW suburbs that have enjoyed greatest house price growth over the last 2 years during Covid

Exclusive data has revealed the homeowners that have made more than $1 million since the start of the pandemic as the value of their houses skyrocketed. See the list.

The Covid pandemic has changed the world over the past two years, mostly in ways that we’d rather forget.

But there have been positive effects too, felt literally in people’s own backyards.

A two-year period of record low interest rates, rolling Covid lockdowns, travel bans and government stimulus, saw Aussies put as much of their hard earned money into real estate as possible.

The result? A value windfall in suburbs all around the country, with exclusive data revealing some homeowners have made more than $1 million since March 2020 as the equity in their homes skyrocketed.

Wyee in Lake Macquarie has enjoyed the greatest house price growth in NSW over the past two years.

REA’s list of the 20 top growth suburbs in NSW found Wyee on the Central Coast performing the best, with a value increase of 142 per cent. The surge saw the suburb’s median house value increase from $330,000 to $797,500.

REA head of research Cameron Kusher said that the best performing suburbs across Australia had been largely on coastal and regional fringes of the capital cities and this was especially true in NSW, where the Central Coast had six suburbs in the top 20, while the south coast and Western Sydney each had four.

“The lifestyle trend has been really strong in NSW,” Mr Kusher said. “People have realised that if they’re not going into the office every day, they can currently live by the beach on the Central Coast, or out around the Blue Mountains, get themselves a much larger property and live more like they would like to.”

Mr Kusher said that even as Sydneysiders returned to work in the CBD, the commute from the fringes was no longer the deterrent it was pre-Covid.

“We know anecdotally that traffic is nowhere near as bad as it used to be, because people aren’t going into the office as much,” he said. “If you do have to go to the office, you can pick and choose which days a little more and you might travel at non-peak hours.

“And you can jump on a train to Sydney from the Central Coast or Wollongong if you want to as well.”

Austral in Sydney’s west was the second best performing suburb on the list, with growth of 132 per cent pushing its median from $439,400 to $1,018,838.

Third placed Byron Bay’s median increased by an incredible $1.611m to now sit at $3.025m. It was the highest placed of four northern NSW postcodes to make the top 20 and also one of four suburbs on the list to net more than $1 million in added equity for its median homeowners. Glenorie ($1,124,539 increase), Sylvania Waters ($1.35m increase) and the Northern Beaches’ Bayview ($1.475m increase) were the others.

Bulli offers coastal living and a relatively short commute to Sydney. Picture: realestate.com.au

Mr Kusher said a number of economic factors had combined to cause conditions that saw what would have been a much longer growth cycle condensed into two years.

And even more unusual was the fact that capital cities and regions around Australia boomed simultaneously.

“You usually find that markets cycle at different times,” he said. “It’s very abnormal to be seeing everywhere growing rapidly at one point in time and I think that speaks to the fact that interest rates were cut so low.

“ (Covid also meant that) people couldn’t spend on anything else, so they decided to spend on property and move into a nicer home, or renovate. They have realised that life has changed and they want their home to be more comfortable than it has been in the past because they’re spending a lot more time there.”

A characteristic of any growth cycle is a shortage of property supply to meet growing demand and the pandemic situation saw supply even scarcer than previous booms.

Angela and Nick Altuneg with daughter 13yo Mattea pictured at their Wamberal home where they have lived in for 3.5 years. In this time it has more than doubled in value from $950,000 to $2m. Pic Sue Graham

“We saw a real reluctance of people to bring properties to market and a lot of that was driven by the uncertainty around lockdowns and not knowing if you’re going to get the best price if you put your property on the market and no one could inspect it,” Mr Kusher said. “So we saw this big fall in supply at the same time we saw a lot more people wanting to buy property.”

Meanwhile, Hotspotting.com.au founder Terry Ryder recently released his Autumn price predictor index, which cast more light on how common growth was all over Australia up until the end of 2021.

The report noted that in the most recent quarter, the majority of Australia’s 14 market regions showed growth in at least 99 per cent of their own locations.

“We continue to find large numbers of suburbs and towns with extraordinary uplift in median prices,” Ryder stated in the report. “Including locations where median prices have increased 10 per cent or more in the latest quarter.”

‘THE MARKET CHANGED OUR DECISION’

Wamberal on the Central Coast was one of the state’s biggest winners of the Covid boom, making the REA list with an $800,000 value increase over two years taking the house median from $980,000 to $1.78 million.

Local business owners Angela and Nick Altenug recently decided to list their property at 34 Windsor Rd for sale after noticing a rapid growth in property prices over the past two years.

The founders of Eyes By Design purchased their four bedroom house, which backs onto Wamberal Golf Course, in December 2018 for $950,000. They did a renovation on the property after buying it as their forever home.

After nearly two years of a flat market, the Covid boom kicked into gear. Now, their house has been valued at $2m after more than doubling in value throughout the pandemic.

“Originally we didn’t come here with the idea of selling,” Mr Altenug said.

“The market has changed our decision.”

Wamberal on the Central Coast was one of the state’s biggest winners of the Covid boom. Picture: Sue Graham

Ms Altenug said when they purchased the single level brick house they felt they paid $50,000 too much for it – a factor that no longer mattered.

“We’re not complaining now,” she said.

Selling agent Nick West from The Agency Central Coast said the Altenug’s house was not the only one that had doubled in value during Covid. He has resold several properties for twice the price after they were held by the owners for just a few years.

He said the treechanger movement was largely responsible for this growth.

“We’re seeing a high influx of families moving to Wamberal to get the beachside lifestyle,” he said.

Ms Altenug said she noticed prices were climbing when a slightly larger property about 10 doors down sold for $1.36m in August 2020.

“It was a street record and everybody was so impressed with that,” she said.

“He probably thought he was paying too much then at that point in time, but look at it now.”

“It’s a massive gain he has made in 18 months. It’s crazy stuff.”