Ben was priced out of his first and second choice suburbs. Then he was evicted

Far-flung suburbs in Western Sydney recorded the strongest house value growth in the past three months despite high interest rates as priced out buyers chase affordable housing.

Cabramatta West houses recorded a 9 per cent, or about $92,000, jump to a median of $1,115,000 in the three months to April on CoreLogic data.

That was followed by a string of other south western Sydney suburbs, including Bonnyrigg Heights (up 8.7 per cent), Lansvale (up 6.7 per cent), St Johns Park (up 6.6 per cent) and Cecil Hills (up 6.5 per cent) where house prices remain well below the city’s median house value of $1,421,000 by April.

There were a handful of outliers where well-heeled buyers were driving house price growth well above the city median, including Gordon, Rosebery and North Wahroonga, although their medians were $2.4 million or higher.

Priced-out Sydney buyers have been moving west to chase the last frontier of affordability with the help of the Bank of Mum and Dad.

CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said the top suburbs for the strongest house price growth were in the middle-to-outer ring areas where they fall below the Sydney median house price.

The average household was now looking further out to more affordable suburbs because they can no longer afford a median priced house.

“It’s the ripple of demand from higher income households that might normally be targeting the upper quartile of the market and now is focusing on the middle-to-lower quartile of the market,” he said.

Rising house prices even in these more affordable pockets pointed to the Bank of Mum and Dad helping out, Lawless said.

The majority of strongest house price growth suburbs were in affordable pockets of Western Sydney.Credit: Peter Rae

Meanwhile, units that recorded the strongest quarterly growth were in highly desirable suburbs where house prices had far outpaced unit growth, he said.

Laing+Simmons Mount Druitt & Rooty Hill principal Basel Nahas said the top factor driving prices in the Blacktown region was priced out buyers from neighbouring suburbs.

“Buyers have no options but to buy in these suburbs that are left. That’s why you’re seeing these quarterly hikes in these suburbs because they are very affordable. This is causing them to surge so rapidly,” Nahas said.

He said while first home buyers made up the bulk of demand in the past year, investors have come back into the market as they see potential growth thanks to the proposed metro station nearby and adjacent future infrastructure.

Tregear buyer Ben Low and his girlfriend were priced out of their first preference of suburbs, including Blacktown and Doonside, after spending almost two years looking to invest.

Ben Low bought an investment property in Tregear, but may have to move in instead. Credit: Wolter Peeters

“We wanted to get into the market again, so we tried to buy in Blacktown, but it’s pretty much too expensive to purchase now, so we’ve had to go [further] out,” the 42-year-old plumber who rents in Eastwood said.

When they looked to buy a suburb further over from Blacktown, they were caught out again when they tried to buy an asbestos house that was guided around $850,000 but ended up selling for $1.09 million.

“My girlfriend and I looked at each other and said, we’ve been bought out Doonside and need to buy further west.”

It led them to move their search further out to buy a three-bedroom house for $735,000 in Tregear, which rose 6.9 per cent in three months to a median of $701,530.

“We tried this area just to get ahead of the curve. I thought I was getting ahead of the curve. We may not have been able to afford that in six months time, especially with the talk of falling interest rates at the end of the year,” Low said. “The funny thing is we bought this on Saturday and on Monday we got notice in Eastwood to leave. There is a possibility of moving back into this place,” he said.

The strong house price growth in Sydney’s south west was driven by not only priced out buyers closer to the city, but also upgraders who have built equity in their first home purchase further west.

“We’re seeing people coming from the inner west for affordable housing. They’re getting bigger blocks for cheaper,” said Blaz Dejanovic, director of Blaze Real Estate, noting that about 10 to 15 per cent of buyers had the help of the Bank of Mum and Dad.

“I’m also seeing young couples who originally purchased their first home in the new suburbs of Oran Park, Gledswood Hills, Gregory Hills. They’re selling their house and land packages they bought five to seven years ago. Now they’re moving back into the area because of the convenience of living closer to family and they can afford it now because they’re in the property market.”

While there was some distressed selling, most homeowners were still selling for a profit after the property boom of recent years.