Best homes in your suburb: the Sydney properties sold for record prices in 2022

A shortage of well located homes not requiring renovations resulted in some standout property sales this year. See the homes that achieved new suburb records over 2022

Home seekers have been shelling out unprecedented sums for Sydney properties even in a housing slump.

A review of property transactions this year showed buyers paid record prices for properties in at least 120 suburbs – representing about one seventh of Harbour City areas. There were also a high volume of record sales in regional NSW.

It came as property prices fell across much of the Sydney market this year, largely as a result of interest rate rises, deteriorating market sentiment and affordability barriers for buyers.

Experts said some properties still attracted record prices in the challenging sales market because buyers were struggling to find well located homes requiring no renovations.

“Jacaranda”, a home on Albany St, Point Frederick smashed the suburb record price.

With prices down by an average of about 7 per cent compared to the start of 2022, homeowners became more fearful of losing money and fewer listed their properties for sale.

And many properties that did come up for sale were labelled by real estate agents as “C-grade” or “D-grade” properties.

Agents typically use this term for properties with unpopular attributes such as a position on a main road, unusual floorplan, lack of natural light or structural problems.

The shortage of available properties that “ticked all the boxes” put pressure on home buyers to bid up the prices for the few quality properties that were up for sale, agents told the Saturday Telegraph.

12 Seaview Street, Summer Hill sold for $4.8m in Aug 22, a new suburb record price.

Among the biggest record breaking properties – measured by the difference between the new record price and the previous one – were on the Central Coast, according to PropTrack data.

A waterfront property in Point Frederick, a peninsula suburb near Gosford, sold for $9m in November – double the previous suburb record price in the area.

In nearby Green Point, another waterfront home sold for $2.4m, just over $1m higher than the previous suburb record price of $1.34m set in 2021.

The Green Point home sold in 2022 for a suburb record of $2.4m.

There were also some huge sales in the Newcastle and Hunter Region.

A 6945sqm estate in Telarah, near Maitland, known as Bryn Glas sold for $2.55m – three times the previous record for the suburb. And in Boat Harbour, a five-bedroom beach house sold for $5.85m, nearly double the previous suburb record.

All were extremely rare offerings in their local markets.

A Greystanes house sold for just over $2.6m was one of Western Sydney’s biggest record breakers.

The auction for a Greystanes home that achieved a new suburb record price. Picture: David Swift

Vendors Alex and Lynne Noor said after their June auction that the price for the six-bedroom house on Macquarie Rd was “life changing”.

“We’re extremely pleased,” Mr Moor said, referring to the nine registered bidders and crowd of 100 people who attended the auction. The property was one of the largest land holdings in the area.

SQM Research director Louis Christopher said the purchasers behind pricey property transactions this year were often high net worth people.

They were usually less affected by interest rate rises because they bought property with smaller mortgages or didn’t need loans at all, Mr Christopher said.

34 McKellar Court, Kellyville, sold for a suburb record of $3.62m this year.

Auctioneer Chris Scerri, who called some of the year’s biggest sales this year, said there were plenty of buyers who failed to secure suitable homes last year and pounced as soon as they saw something that met their needs.

“It can take a long time for buyers to find something they like,” he said. “Top tier properties have a scarcity value and that attracts more competition.”

PropTrack head of economic research Cameron Kusher said it was the opposite with properties that lacked scarcity factor such as apartments in large high-rise buildings.

These properties were often selling for heavily discounted prices because buyers had plenty of options to choose from, could be picky and had little pressure to act quickly, Mr Kusher said.

Originally published as Best homes in your suburb: the Sydney properties sold for record prices in 2022