Sydney suburbs seeing double-digit price growth: REA's Nerida Conisbee

We are in recession; unemployment is rising, and we should be in a situation where house prices catastrophically fall. Yet, they remain resilient.

Across Australia, prices have softened slightly since March (except in Canberra), but comparing prices to the same time last year, Sydney is doing remarkably well. A lot of this has to do with how hot the market was leading up to March, but the surprising resilience is also being driven by a stable banking sector.

In Sydney, the strongest markets continue to be those priced well above the current house price median of $969,500. There are definitely some areas of weakness in Sydney at the moment, but it isn’t for houses in premium suburbs, many of which have seen double digit price growth.

Topping the list for price growth is Petersham with a 32% increase since last year. Meanwhile, the most expensive suburb on the top growth list is the north shore suburb of Lindfield, which is now getting close to a $3 million median.

It does appear that people are also keen to hold on to their properties if they can, and would prefer to tap into superannuation or selling shares.

A recent survey by Fidelity Investments found that 26% of Australians plans to access their super early in the next 12 months, while 4.5% plan to sell shares.In comparison only 1.8% plan to sell property. This is a major contributor to stable pricing; COVID-19 doesn’t appear to be denting our obsession with property.

NERIDA CONISBEE is the Chief Economist at REA