Sydney coastal homes listed for under $1m after huge price drops
Sydney beach homes are being offered up for as little as $750k following sweeping price drops over the last year, with exclusive data showing where to get the cheapest deals.
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Home seekers can bag beach homes for well under $1m in pockets of Sydney following an unexpected fall in prices of up to $329,000 in some beach areas over the past year.
The heavy discounting has followed a movement back to inner suburbs with good transport links to the CBD, reversing a Covid-era shift to lifestyle suburbs near beaches.
That trend, which was particularly strong during the Covid lockdowns, had driven an explosion in prices across areas such as the northern beaches and Central Coast.
These same regions are now offering some of the city’s biggest beach home bargains, with an apartment looking directly over Central Coast beach The Entrance listed for just $750,000.
Exclusive PropTrack data showed the cheapest suburbs to get a home near the beach included The Entrance North, The Entrance, Bateau Bay, Booker Bay and Umina Beach, all on The Central Coast.
Median prices in each of these suburbs dropped over the past year, PropTrack noted.
There have also been listings for under $1m in northern beaches suburb Dee Why, along with deals in the city’s south.
A unit two blocks from Ramsgate Beach was this month listed for $699,000.
Ramsgate Beach was also the coastal suburb with the biggest fall in prices over the past year, with unit values dropping by an average of about 27 per cent or $329,000.
Other beach suburbs with sizeable median price drops were Ettalong Beach, where house values fell 13.1 per cent, The Entrance, where house prices dropped 9.5 per cent, and Booker Bay, with a unit price drop of nearly 20 per cent.
There were further significant price drops in premium beach suburbs.
Point Piper’s unit median dropped 21.7 per cent to $3.72m and Tamarama’s fell 26.2 per cent to $1.9m. Manly’s median unit price fell 11.7 per cent to $1.62m.
PropTrack economist Angus Moore said falling prices in some beach areas were something of a hangover from the pandemic.
“The Central Coast and northern beaches are good examples,” he said. “They were incredibly popular during the pandemic but since then there has been some pullback and (the markets) are softer.”
Matt Haddad of PRD said the drop in Ramsgate Beach was partly caused by a greater number of luxury apartments being sold the previous year, but added that the market remained “undervalued”.
“It’s a pretty good spot, a relatively affordable price and close to the beach,” he said.
“A lot of people want to move here because of the location … the sub $1m market is very undervalued because there are a lot of older-style apartments, but now the older demographic is moving out and younger people are moving in.”
He has a 1960s two-bedroom apartment with parking at 10/102-104 Chuter Ave, a few blocks from the beach, which records show has had a $20,000 price drop since it was listed six weeks ago.
The 65sqm unit with a sunny north-facing living room, bedroom and balcony, is now priced at $699,000, which Mr Haddad said was “a pretty good buy”. It had last traded for $575,000 in 2016.
Meanwhile at Dee Why on the northern beaches — where median unit prices have dropped 2.7 per cent over the year — Frank Livoti at Upstate Property Dee Why said he’s seeing young families from the eastern suburbs and inner west at open homes this year.
“The local council has invested a lot of money in bringing the beach up to scratch and there’s a good range of cafes and restaurants,” Mr Livoti said.
“And buyers from the east can find far better value here … they can get a three-bedder for the price of a one-bedder or small two-bedder in the east.”
Mechanical engineer Luke Preston is reluctantly selling his north-facing three-bedder at 21/101 Pacific Pde, Dee Why at a February 8 auction with a price guide of $1.15m.
He and wife Sandrine, with young son Jacques, are relocating to the western suburbs to be closer to Luke’s new workplace, but it’s going to be a wrench.
“We came from a one-bedder at Manly to this three-bedder 15 months ago, and Dee Why is well set up for young families,” Mr Preston said. “We’re perfectly located, between the village and the beach.”
Raine and Horne Mona Vale agent Ben Spackman said prices had risen at the top-end of the market, but unit prices with guides below $1m weren’t getting as much love.
“Lower end is still quite soft because it’s mortgage related,” Mr Spackman said.
He said a lot of investors were selling because of the fear of further mortgage stress after consecutive rate rises throughout 2022 and 2023.
CHEAPEST BEACH SUBURBS (SYDNEY)
Houses
Budgewoi $711,000
Chain Valley Bay $782,000
Canton Beach $840,000
Noraville $850,000
Chittaway Bay $878,000
The Entrance $950,000
Bateau Bay $970,000
Umina Beach $1,025,000
Empire Bay $1,048,000
Ettalong Beach $1,075,000
Units
The Entrance North $595,000
The Entrance $645,000
Bateau Bay $660,000
Booker Bay $743,000
Brighton-le-Sands $748,000
Monterey $760,000
Umina Beach $790,000
Ramsgate Beach $871,000
Dee Why $883,000
Little Bay $885,000
CHEAPEST BEACH SUBURBS (REST OF NSW)
Houses
Tarro $610,000
Stuarts Point $630,000
Surfside $640,000
Mallabula $656,000
Nambucca Heads $665,000
Units
Eden $438,000
Batehaven $440,000
Narooma $447,000
Nambucca Heads $458,000
Tweed Heads West $492,000
Source: PropTrack
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