Sydney’s new boom regions: home values rise up to $10,000 per week as price surge moves west and south

Sydney’s housing boom is changing course as new regions overtake the beaches and east as the fastest growing housing markets. See where prices are rising $10k each week.

SYDNEY’S housing boom is moving west and towards the city fringes, with prices rocketing up by as much as $10,000 a week over the past year.

The Hills district, Sutherland Shire and much of the city’s west have become the new fastest- growing markets as families look to cash in on price rises in the east and north.

Prices rises in these regions eclipsed those in the rest of the market, which was beginning to cool because of dropping buyer demand and rising credit costs, CoreLogic research revealed.

Experts said the stellar growth in the west and other regions was the result of cashed-up families from the east and north shore looking for larger houses on bigger blocks.

These families sold for massive prices during last year’s once-in-a-generation housing boom.

Armed with considerable windfalls from such sales, these buyers are now able to pay prices not usually seen in the west or south.

Max and Jen Van der Vliet, with daughter Brooke, 2, said house hunting was tough. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

The median price of houses in the Hills and Hawkesbury region was $1.46m at the start of 2021 but is now pushing nearly $2m.

That increase equated to an average price rise of $10,000 each week.

The Hills was also one of the few regions where staggering growth continued over January.

The median price jumped another 1.4 per cent for the month — the biggest rise in Sydney and more than double the 0.6 per cent rise in the city market as a whole.

Auctioneer Will Hampson, the director of Hills-based real estate group Lumby Hampson, said the region was exploding in popularity because it offered the largest houses.

Prices were also cheap compared to the inner west, north shore and eastern suburbs, Mr Hampson said.

“A lot of our buyers are now people trading terraces in places like Paddington for larger landholdings. They want the swimming pool, the big yard,” he said.

“People are also trying to get away from the crowds. Since Covid, we’re seeing more people trying avoid higher (density).”

A similar pattern was emerging in the outer west and Blue Mountains as better affordability meant buyer demand was not softening like in the rest of the market.

Prices rises in the outer west, which includes Penrith among other suburbs, grew at more than double the market average over the past three months, CoreLogic revealed.

And down south, the Sutherland Shire had the top annual growth in house values at 36.7 per cent, overtaking the northern beaches as the market with the fastest annual rise in prices.

Auctioneer Andrew Cooley said the Shire was heating up. Picture: Simon Bullard.

Prices in the Shire went up by an average of about $9000 each week over the past 12 months.

Avenue Auctions director Andrew Cooley, who called many of the auctions in the Shire last year, said the region was a magnet for cashed-up families.

People no longer dismissed the area as too far from the CBD. “The transport has improved and more people are working from home,” Mr Cooley said.

This pattern was most evident in the Shire, but it was also apparent on the northern edge of Sydney. Here too, price growth was not slowing like in the rest of the city.

Jennifer and Max Van der Vliet recently purchased a four-bedroom house in Berowra

Heights after deciding to upsize.

“Prices are just ridiculous these days,” Mrs Van der Vliet said. “We liked a house recently that was listed for $1.5m and it sold for over $2m at the auction.”

This Lomond Place home in Castle Hill sold in December for $6.5m.

The pair had a very different experience when purchasing their apartment at 18-22 Lords Ave Asquith back in 2019, which they are now selling.

“We only had to look at a handful of properties,” Ms Van der Vliet said.

Their selling agent David Botros said demand for freestanding houses had surged in Asquith since the start of the pandemic. “Nowadays, everyone wants a designated study or office,” he said.