Revealed: the Sydney train stops with the biggest home price rises

There has been an explosion in home values near certain Sydney train stops as property seekers re-evaluate their commuting choices. See which stops are the most valuable.

Homeowners on the outer reaches of Sydney’s train network are living a rails to riches story.

Research provided exclusively to the Sunday Telegraph showed there was an explosion in home values near the train stops at the end of many of the city’s major rail lines over the past year.

The surge was due largely to the Covid-era work from home trend and an increased desire from workers who were once tied to CBD offices to seek out larger homes in “lifestyle” locations near beaches or reserves.

But few were abandoning train amenities altogether, increasing the popularity of areas offering a mix of greater space within reach of rail infrastructure.

Extensive research by realestate.com.au, which measured the average price of homes near every train stop, showed the stations with the biggest price rises were in Sydney’s outer south and north.

This included the Sutherland Shire stops Loftus and Woolooware on different branches of the T4 Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra line.

Houses within 1.5 km of these train stops had a 36-39 per cent average increase in prices over the past year.

This was close to double the record-breaking 20 per cent average rise in property prices across Sydney as a whole over the period.

There were also significant price increases of about 30 per cent in the 1.5km areas around Cronulla station, at the end of one branch of the line, and in Heathcote, the second last station on another branch of the same line.

On the other side of the city, there were considerable house price jumps for houses near Gordon, Hornsby and Berowra stations, where many of the north shore rail services terminate.

Home seekers Vishal and Nam with kids Ansh, 14, and Rhea 9, recently bought in Parramatta so they could be on the train line. Picture: Tim Hunter.

The Gordon increase was the highest in Sydney at just under 40 per cent, while in Hornsby and Berowra it was about 29 per cent.

Realestate.com.au economist Paul Ryan said home buyers were considering the importance of train access in a different way to before the pandemic.

“People are prepared to commute further, but being on a train line is still very important, so these outer suburbs with connections are more appealing,” he said.

Train lines were historically a good predictor of how popular suburbs were with home buyers and well-connected suburbs tended to get faster growth in prices, Mr Ryan added.

“Train stations become the focal point for retail, restaurants and development,” he said. “They also attract more tenants and investors get better capital gains.”

A prime example of how train infrastructure boosted prices was the Metro North West line connecting the Hills district to Epping and the rest of the city.

House prices within 1.5km of new stations Kellyville, Rouse Hill and Norwest increased about 28-30 per cent over the past year. This was above the Hills average.

Mr Ryan cautioned that rail infrastructure was not the sole reason for the increases, but it was a major factor.

With the help of MLS Finance broker Sze Chuah, home seeker Vishal recently bought a house in Parramatta, the rail corridor with one of the biggest price rises in Western Sydney, and said the train infrastructure was the main reason they purchased.

His family were living in Ermington and found it too much of an inconvenience to drive their son 5km to the nearest station so that he could take the train to Sydney Boys High School.

“You’re at the centre of everything,” he said. “Parramatta has the express train to the CBD, which makes everything easy.”