Suburbs where house prices have skyrocketed by more than $1 million
In just two years, house values in some Australian suburbs have risen by more than $1 million, with other areas experiencing staggering jumps.
The value of homes in some Sydney suburbs and regional areas of NSW have risen by an eye-watering $1 million in the space of just two years since the pandemic hit.
Houses in the celebrity haunt of Byron Bay skyrocketed 114 per cent between March 2020 and 2022.
The seaside town saw the value of a typical house rise from $1.4 million to $3.02 million in the past two years, an increase of an extraordinary $1.6 million, according to REA data.
In Sydney’s northwest, the suburb of Glenorie experienced an 88 per cent increase in house values, jumping from $1.27 million in 2020 up to $2.4 million – almost doubling in value.
The waterfront suburb of Sylvania Waters in Sydney’s south saw house values soar by $1.13 million in the past two years.
Back in 2020, house prices were typically $1.6 million but that has now increased by 84 per cent to $2.95 million in February.
Another suburb that saw staggering increases was Bayview on Sydney’s northern beaches, with house prices increasing by 77 per cent or $1.47 million in two years. A typical house in the suburb jumped from $1.92 million to $3.4 million.
But the suburb that recorded the most incredible jump in value was on the Central Coast, an area that has become increasingly popular as the opportunity to remote work became more common during the pandemic.
The suburb of Wyee saw its house values increase a whopping 142 per cent, taking it from $330,000 in 2020 to $797,500 this year.
Coastal and regional areas in Australia experienced some of the highest jumps in value, said REA head of research Cameron Kusher, with the Central Coast in particular recording six suburbs in the top 20 growth areas in NSW.
“The lifestyle trend has been really strong in NSW,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
“People have realised that if they’re not going into the office every day, they can currently live by the beach on the Central Coast, or out around the Blue Mountains, get themselves a much larger property and live more like they would like to.”
Austral in Sydney’s west was the second best performing suburb out of the top 20 growth suburbs in NSW, with an incredible 132 per cent increase, pushing typical house values from $439,400 to $1.01 million.
Copacabana on the Central Coast boasted the third biggest increase at 106 per cent with a rise of $981,500 in house values. A typical house rose from $923,500 back in March 2020 to now be worth a staggering $1.9 million.
Mr Kushner said it was unusual for capital cities and regions around Australia to boom simultaneously, but the pandemic meant people were saving more but couldn’t spend it on typical things like travelling and entertainment, so turned to splashing the cash on property.
Lockdowns also made people realise that life had changed and they wanted a more comfortable place to live as they were spending so much time there, he said.
“It’s very abnormal to be seeing everywhere growing rapidly at one point in time and I think that speaks to the fact that interest rates were cut so low,” he said.
A huge shortage in available properties on the market also drove the boom, according to Mr Kushner.
“We saw a real reluctance of people to bring properties to market and a lot of that was driven by the uncertainty around lockdowns and not knowing if you’re going to get the best price if you put your property on the market and no one could inspect it,” he said.
“So we saw this big fall in supply – at the same time we saw a lot more people wanting to buy property.”
But Australia’s red hot property market has finally come crashing down, according to recent data.
Australian home prices rose by just 0.3 per cent in March and even fell in places like Melbourne, according to new research from REA Group’s data business PropTrack.
Perth prices also slumped, falling by 0.1 per cent, while Darwin’s house values dropped by 0.6 per cent.
Momentum in Australia’s property market has really slowed in 2022, plagued by the fear of rising interest rates, according to PropTrack economist Paul Ryan.