Woollahra heads the suburbs the 2015 boom has bypassed

Dwelling prices sit around 33% higher than the last peak, but is that a Sydney-wide boom or indeed bubble?

The catchup growth in the past year has been at around 15%, but over the past decade at 5% annually, which was exceeded by Darwin (7.4%), Melbourne (6.4%) and Perth (6%).

There is no doubting many sales in many suburbs are seriously overpriced. I would call them bubble prices. There was a Maroubra sale where with a coat of paint difference a $1.46 million sale of a two bedroom semi on 310 square metres had last sold at $1 million in March 2013.

I couldn't spot the $460,000 difference. 

The silly prices could easily result in any exit - perhaps even over as long as the next decade - in tears given some buyers are seriously over paying currently.

If they want to keep it has their longtime, forever family home, the exuberance won't be as apparent longterm as if they were investing in a reckless pursuit of yield, frustrated by what returns they can get elsewhere.

Rental markets are softer, and looming construction supply will see further softening.

But it should be noted there are home sales and market segments where the market is yet to bounce to any significant extent - especially prestige homes where Chinese buyers are absent and from the indulgent coastal beach home market unless Justin Hemmes is present.

Title Tattle turned up to a recent weekend Queen Street Woollahra auction - where the only bid came from the McGrath auctioneer Scott Kennedy Green.

He had tried to get $7.5 million plus interest, and passed it in on a $7.2 million vendor bid. The sandstone, semi-detached 1867 Victorian terrace set on a 417 sqm parcel close to the Woollahra Village featured in the Willem Rethmeier and Jenne Reed Burns 2000 book, Private Sydney after Elizabeth Wadsworth's renovation. Elizabeth Wadsworth popped into the auction from next-door where she has wanted $8 million plus for her 1850s terrace, St Aubyn since last year.

Not one attendee at the 188 Queen Street auction of apparent Asian descent, either fourth generational or fly in. 

They are all busy buying up in the re-emerging Bellevue Hill and Double Bay. Eventually disappointed underbidders from these adjoining suburbs will help underpin the Woollahra recovery, but not yet.

Last month Title Tattle reported the mining heiress Sarah Louise Fudge sold Spicer House, Woollahra for $5.5 million.

Her landmark home in Woollahra was listed $5 million plus hopes given her relocation to Hollywood. 

The 1886-era residence Spicer House traded in May 2011 for $5.5 million.

Remember the former tennis champion Pat Rafter sold his Woollahra terrace for $2.4 million late last year.

The Wallis Street contemporary three-bedroom terrace cost $2.35 million in 2007, so price growth didn't cover the stamp duty over the seven year period.

The Noosa-based sportsman would have been wiser retaining his Sydney home on Hopetoun Avenue, Mosman which was sold in 2007 for $7.75 million. Onthehouse website cautiously suggests that Mosman home could be worth $10.6 million now.

But Chinese interest in Mosman is light compared to say Epping.

Last month 10 Hermington Street, Epping sold at $1.1 million, some $70,000 over reserve, which shows to me that over the top sale prices are in decline. But the auction was significant as there were 17 registered bidders, 11 of whom took part.

Low interest rates have encouraged many more buyers into the market, and as long as rates stay low, not withstanding APRA's macropridential attempts, local buyers will try their luck.

And if the RBA succeeds in being the dollar down, then foreign buyers and expats will underpin the market. 

Of course once rates rise then it will be regrets for many, despite the banks saying everyone is ahead of their repayments and that they are ensuring loans are being processed with anticipated higher debt borrower capabilities.