Suburbs that rose by more than $50k a month in 2021
These lucky Aussies made as much as $110,000 for every month of last year — and they didn’t have to lift a finger.
A number of Aussies didn’t have to lift a finger to make at least $50,000 every month of last year on top of their day jobs.
In fact, one small group of people made a whopping $111,000 extra every 30 days.
They were the homeowners in Australia’s best performing suburbs during the turbocharged property market of 2021.
Properties nationally rose in value by 24 per cent last year, making it the highest annual growth on record since the 1980s housing boom.
Newly-released REA data found that Sydney emerged as the clear winner from a purely financial perspective, with all but one suburb in the top 10 median monthly increases for property from the NSW capital.
A total of 127 suburbs across the country reaped profits of $50,000 or more over the last 12 months. Of those, 116 were from NSW.
Homeowners at the Sydney eastern suburb of Dover Heights made more than anyone else in the country, raking in $111,500 every month.
Eleanor Creagh, senior economist at REA Group’s PropTrack, told news.com.au: “If we look at the median annual salary being around $60,000 in Australia and houses in these 127, the median estimated values rose more than $50,000 a month.
“That puts any homeowner in any one of those suburbs … in the top decile of income earners if their house earned that.”
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Sydney’s eastern suburbs and northern beaches dominated, with those suburbs hogging nine out of the 10 top spots.
Over in Sydney’s east, Dover Heights, Bronte, Bondi, Bondi Beach, North Bondi, Clovelly and Queens Park all got into the list for highest grossing suburbs for houses.
Those suburbs grew in value anywhere from $84,000 to $111,000 per month.
The suburbs of Fairlight and Balgowlah Heights in Sydney’s Northern Beaches also got an honourable mention, generating an extra $95,000 and $94,000 every month, respectively.
Portsea was the only place that wasn’t from Sydney which made it into the top 10.
The Melbourne suburb, located in the Victorian city’s Mornington Peninsula, came seventh on the list with a monthly rise of $89,000, representing a staggering percentage growth of 48 per cent in just a year.
Ms Creagh said: “Luxury and premium had a particularly outstanding year [as] people were unable to travel overseas and international borders were shut.”
She also pointed out: “Skilled workers in higher paying jobs did better off whereas the lower paid brackets of employment found their jobs were impacted.
“The pandemic has really compounded issues around wealth inequality.”
There were also some “regional standouts” reflecting a shifting trend where sea and tree changes have become more desirable for city slickers.
Queensland’s Mermaid Beach in the Gold Coast spearheaded regional growth, growing by 55 per cent in a year or by $67,000 every month, with the median house valued at $2.2 million.
Berry along the NSW south coast had a higher percentage growth but less of a dollar rise, at 67 per cent annual growth and $63,000 a month in rising property values.
The average Berry home is worth substantially less than its Queensland counterpart, at $1.88 million.
Sunrise Beach in Queensland jumped by an impressive 73 per cent over the course of the year but this translated to a dollar cost rise of $61,000 per month.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the booming town of Byron Bay in far northern NSW also got a shout-out, surging by 38 per cent in value.
Homeowners at the popular beachside town stood to make $55,500 a month, with the average house costing $2.5 million.
“People have placed a larger priority on the beach and outdoor space,” Ms Creagh noted.
“You can really see the shift in demand towards coastal living that’s really been underpinned by this huge preference shift as a result of the pandemic.
“The experience of lockdowns for some has reduced the attractiveness of inner city living. For others, lifestyles has become a larger priority, people are looking for scenic beachside locations.
“This has always been popular but it is more popular as a result of the pandemic.”
Even apartments near the beach saw an unprecedented price rise, as can be in the table above.
Just five Victorian suburbs made it onto the list. As well as Portsea, homeowners in Sorrento, Caulfield North, Somers and Black Rock earned more than $50,000 every month for 2021.
Only four suburbs from Queensland did: Mermaid Beach, Sunrise Beach, Sunshine Beach and Doonan.
Yarralumla and Red Hill in the ACT also scraped into the list.
South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania all missed out; not a single one of their suburbs made more than $50,000 a month on property.
That said, nationally there were more than 1000 suburbs with homeowners that saw year end growth of more than $200,000.
As for NSW, there were almost too many suburbs to count that made it onto the database.
Pretty much every area in Sydney and its surrounds experienced growth, from the Northern Beaches, to the North Shore, the eastern suburbs, the inner west, the Sutherland Shire and the Central Coast.
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