Western Sydney suburbs where home values rose $220k in a year

Homeowners in historically blue collar Western Sydney suburbs have scored hundreds of thousands in property gains in only a year. See who had the biggest wins

Homeowners in parts of the Parramatta region have scored big wins from the latest housing market upswing, with some seeing properties in their area rise in value by an average up to $220,000 in only a year.

Exclusive PropTrack data revealed 14 of the top 20 suburbs in Sydney for home value growth over the past year were in Greater Parramatta, with strong growth also occurring in surrounding regions.

The research, which examined how home values in every suburb around the country changed over both the past quarter and year, showed a general trend of faster value rises in cheaper markets.

Among the other top markets for house value growth was the inner southwest, which includes much of the St George area and Canterbury-Bankstown, along with suburbs in the Blacktown area.

PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty said these areas were booming partly because of the rental crisis.

Housing demand has been rising in Western Sydney. Picture: Tim Hunter.

“It’s incredibly difficult to find somewhere to rent. Some renters have done the maths and say they are in a better position to become first-home buyers, but to be able to purchase they are going to more affordable areas a bit further from the CBD,” she said.

Ms Flaherty added that first-home buyers could often have deeper pockets than many, competing buyers realised, largely because they were getting financial help from their parents. This meant a considerable portion could bid up prices.

“It’s not a level playing field,” she said. “Rate rises have limited where a lot of first-home buyers can afford, but in those markets where they are active, many are getting help with their deposits.”

PropTrack’s Automated Valuation Model showed the top growth market over the past year was Banksmeadow, a small suburb near the airport, where unit prices grew by about 26 per cent.

Parramatta suburb Berala had the highest house price growth at 21.5 per cent, which pushed the median price up by about $223,000 to $1.26m.

This was more than double the 8.11 per cent lift in prices across Sydney as a whole.

There was also growth of just under 20 per cent in house values across other Parramatta region suburbs including North Parramatta, Newington and Constitution Hill.

Other strong house value performers in that region were Toongabbie, Oatlands, Lidcombe, Winston Hills, Sefton and the Parramatta CBD. Unit values in these areas changed only marginally over the period.

McGrath Parramatta agent Rowan Thredgold said buyer demand was heated in the Parramatta area because it still offered better value than many surrounding areas.

“We often find our buyers started their search in places like Baulkham Hills but then they got priced out at auction,” he said. “In many suburbs around here you can a house on a decent block for $1.1m. A couple of kilometres away in the Hills, it’s close to $2m.”

Other buyers in the area had been renting in places like the inner west, Mr Thredgold said. “Their rent has gone up and they’ve realised if they go a few suburbs out they can just buy.”

Parramatta agent Ramez Riad of Hunters Agency said houses in the region were “extremely” sought after because many were getting replaced with unit blocks.

“A lot of neighbours banded together and sold their houses to developers. They got turned to units. Now there’s very few houses. They’re scarce so they get high prices.”

Outside the Parramatta region, strong house value growth of over 10 per cent was recorded in southwest suburbs Belmore, Milperra, Wattle Grove, Padstow, Birrong, Panania and Revesby.

Local agent Lush Pillay, principal of LJ Hooker Padstow, said buyers were flooding into the region from other pricier areas like the inner west and St George region.

“There isn’t much for sale. We expect prices to keep rising because the competition is very strong,” he said, adding that talk of an interest cut later this year was reigniting interest in the property market.

Home sellers were reaping the rewards, Mr Pillay said. “There is an ageing population downsizing in the area and when they sell larger blocks of land they are getting phenomenal prices.”

Lea Woods at her recently sold home in Padstow. Picture: Richard Dobson

Lea Woods recently sold her Padstow home of 50 years ago and was surprised at the price. She had paid roughly $28,000 and the home resold through Mr Pillay for $1.552m.

“It was a bit of a unique property so I wasn’t sure what market it would fit into,” she said.

“It could have been investors, or someone could purchase to knock it down, but I’m really happy it has sold to a young family because it’s been such a lovely home for such a long time and to pass the baton on was really nice.”

She noticed a lot of older houses were being knocked down and turned into duplexes which meant the suburb was a lot busier than it used to be.

The one notable exception to the trend of higher price rises in cheaper areas was The Central Coast, where 15 suburbs actually saw price falls, including units in Avoca, Umina Beach, Ettalong Beach and Terrigal.

These markets had been extremely popular during the Covid lockdowns, with prices rising by record levels at the time, but their popularity has since declined as more workers were called back to their CBD offices.