Penrith, Wiley Park and Lakemba beat Potts Point for price growth among Andrew Wilson's unit hotspots for 2013

The trendy inner Sydney suburb of Potts Point stands in stark contrast to the more affordable suburban unit markets picked by Australian Property Monitors senior economist Andrew Wilson to be the top performers for 2013 – most of which are showing good prospects of price growth.

Figures for the first six months of year show seven out 10 of Wilson’s top picks are beating inflation (2.6%) lead by Penrith on the western outskirt of Sydney, with unit prices up 8.4% to a median of $257,000 as of the end of June.

Potts Point ranks fourth best performing market out of the 10 chosen by Wilson with respectable price growth of 4.2% and a median unit price of $525,000 – more than double that of Penrith.

Ahead of Potts Point is the south west suburb of Wiley Park, where unit prices are up 7.9% for the first six months of the year and neighbouring Lakemba, where unit prices have risen 5.5%.

Both suburbs are within postcode 2195 in the Canterbury/Bankstown region with a high proportion of residents with Lebanese and Bangladeshi ancestry and with only a third of residents born in Australia, according to census 2011 data.

Around 88% of residents in these two suburbs are the children of parents born overseas.

The other inner city unit hotspot in the top ten, Ultimo, has yet to fire with unit prices treading water at median of $470,000.

Interestingly, Fairfield, the strongest performing detached housing suburb among Wilson’s 2013 picks with house prices up 12.1% over the first six months of the year has not shown the same strength across units, with median unit prices down 3.5% over this period with a median price of $273,000.

Recent Wiley Park unit sales include a two bedroom apartment in a small block on Shadforth Street which sold for $257,000 through Carlos Almeida of Just Think Real Estate – Parramatta. RP Data records show it sold for $235,000 in 2009. It is currently rented for $310 per equating to a gross yield of around 6.3%.

Another sale in Wiley Park was a two-bedroom unit in a 1960s-built block at 279 Lakemba Street which sold through Luke Knapton of Knapton & Co Pty Limited – Lakemba.  It sold for $284,000 having previously sold for $236,000 in February 2010. It is currently rented for $330 per week equating to a gross yield of around 6%.

Around $500,000 plus gets you a two-bedroom unit in Potts Point. Recent sales include a 71 square metre apartment at 238 William Street which sold for $565,000 through Romany Brooks of BresicWhitney – Darlinghurst.

RP Data records indicate it previously sold for $450,000 in 2008.

Part of a 2008 built block, the apartment has rented for $490 per week equating to a yield of 4.5%.