Fewer sales did not stop big property deals in 2022

Fewer homes changed hands in 2022 compared to last year’s fevered boom time as the market wrestled with uncertainty linked to the fastest rise in interest rates on record.

38a Wentworth Road, Vaucluse, in Sydney’s east.

Fewer homes changed hands in 2022 compared to last year’s fevered boom time as the market wrestled with uncertainty linked to the fastest rise in interest rates on record.

CoreLogic’s annual Best of the Best report, which sums up the country’s annual property performance, found some 535,000 properties transacted in the past 12 months, with the top 10 sales alone amounting to $386.3m.

Vaucluse, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, was named the country’s most expensive suburb for houses at a ­median of $7,943,965 and also held the year’s most expensive home, a $62.75m mansion sold in February to the husband and wife owners of mainland China’s largest Toyota dealership.

38a Wentworth Road, Vaucluse, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

CoreLogic’s Australian head of research, Eliza Owen, said property sales levels had come down from a “freakish” pace set in the pandemic boom when 620,000 properties changed hands, the most since the early 2000s.

She said she believed that not only had rapidly rising rates put off buyers, but many would-be purchases may already have transacted. “That dissuasion largely comes from the higher interest cost … as well as everything that comes with rising rates – higher inflation, stretched household budgets, people expending more of their savings on services as we come out of lockdown – many of these factors are contributing towards lower housing demands,” Ms Owen said.

“There could also be a little bit of a vacuum effect compounding higher rates … because so much buying activity happened last year and so many people took advantage of low-interest rates, (there may not be) as many purchasing decisions to be made in 2022.”

802 Orrong Road, Toorak, in Melbourne’s east, which sold in February for $38.5m.

Of the top 10 sales in 2022, seven were in NSW. Just one entry – 802 Orrong Road, Toorak – made the list from Victoria at No. 4 with a sale price of $38.5m, while two Sunshine Coast properties rounded out the list at eight and 10.

The $80m sale of Toorak’s “ghost mansion” to 27-year-old online casino millionaire Edward Craven did not make the list as it sits across a dual-title at 29-31 St Georges Rd, Toorak, while the $75m sale of nearby Blair House to MessageMedia founder Grant Rule missed the November cut-off for the report.

 

Adelaide dominated the list of capital city suburbs with the highest growth across both housing types, topped by Davoren Park (up 34.7 per cent) for houses and Seacliff Park (up 41.4 per cent) for units.

Bingara in the New England region of NSW recorded the highest growth for houses nationally (up 36.2 per cent), while Narrabeen on the NSW northern beaches fell the furthest (down 26.8 per cent).

West Australian mining town Kambalda East was not only the most affordable suburb nationally for houses with a median of $118,525 but also achieved the highest gross rental yields at 15.9 per cent. Neighbouring Kalgoorlie also had the highest yields for units at 11.8 per cent.

24 Arakoon Crescent, Sunshine Beach, on the Sunshine Coast sold for $28.5m back in April.