Sydney Surge

The Sydney market performed strongly in 2023, according to data from all the major research sources, and has started the New Year with considerable forward momentum. PropTrack reports that the median house price for Greater Sydney rose around 8% in 2023, above its capital city average of 6.4%. Domain has more bullish figures, with Sydney’s median house price rising 10.6% last year, while CoreLogic claimed that Sydney house prices lifted 12.5%, also above its national average of 8.6%. While it’s confusing for consumers that different research entities have conflicting figures on median prices and how much they have changed, the common features from PropTrack, Domain and CoreLogic is that they all record a strong year for the Sydney house market. In terms of the apartment market, all three major data sources have Sydney showing solid price increases close to their national average figures – 4.5% (PropTrack), 6.3% (Domain) and 7.7% (CoreLogic). But the most relevant data, we think, is the trends with sales volumes, often a forward indicator of prices. Hotspotting’s analysis for the quarterly editions of The Price Predictor Index found that the Greater Sydney market improved as 2023 evolved and finished the year strongly. In our most recent analysis, 84% of suburbs had positive classifications, including 51% of suburbs which were ranked as rising markets. That 51% rising result was the strongest in the nation and it means that Sydney has entered 2024 with lots of momentum. Whichever way we look at the numbers, Sydney has a strong market, with rising buyer demand in sectors right across the Greater Sydney area, from the Sydney CBD to Penrith. As we have noted in recent editions of The Price Predictor Index, there is rising buyer demand in locations with a high content of apartments. The City of Sydney LGA is one of the busiest in the Greater Sydney Area. Of the 22 Sydney City suburbs in our latest quarterly analysis, 20 had positive classifications, including 15 rising markets. Other precincts with a high component of attached dwellings also had strong markets, notably suburbs in the Inner West, Parramatta, Ryde, Canada Bay and Strathfield LGAs. The Inner West LGA has 19 suburbs on our list of which 17 had positive rankings, including 15 rising markets, in our most recent analysis.  And there is strength in other sectors of the Greater Sydney market. It may be the most expensive of the nation’s city markets, but buyer demand remains strong and prices continue to rise. There is impetus in inner-city markets with good demand for apartments; in middle-ring locations like the popular Canterbury-Bankstown precinct; and in outer-ring locations with more affordable prices like the municipalities of Liverpool, Blacktown and Penrith. So Hotspotting expects Sydney to continue to deliver solid growth in 2024 – and to once again defy the economists who have started the year with their customary pessimistic forecasts.