Sydney's million plus median suburbs pass the century as Michael Slater cements Avalon's place

Sydney's million plus median suburbs pass the century as Michael Slater cements Avalon's place
Jonathan ChancellorOctober 20, 2013

One in five Sydney suburbs now has a seven-figure median house price.

Prices are being pushed up from the bottom and middle markets, according to Australian Property Monitors, with the latest five entrants to the million-dollar club being Epping ($1,000,500), Annandale ($1,001,500) and Rozelle ($1,005,000), Manly Vale ($1,007,000) and Matraville ($1,015,000).

A year ago Sydney had 93 suburbs with a median house price above $1 million, according to APM, which has since jumped to 123 currently.

There are just the 26 suburbs in Melbourne with a median house price above $1 million. 

Melbourne's first million-dollar suburb was, not surprisingly, Toorak, which broke through the price barrier in 2000. Brighton become the first suburb to record both a million-plus median house and apartment price in 2011.

Perth has 17 suburbs with $1 million plus medians, while Brisbane and Canberra have one each and the other capitals, none.

It's obvious that $1 million isn't what it used to be, but the transition through the decades began first with landmark sales of prestige homes.

In 1978, Boomerang, the Spanish mission-style mansion, set behind its pink stucco garden walls on the harbour at Elizabeth Bay, was sold for $1.25 million through estate agents Peter Blackett and Peter Sayer to oil recycler Peter Burnett and wife Astrid, becoming Sydney's first credited $1 million sale.

There were about 6,000 sales over $1 million across Sydney in the two decades from 1978 to 1998, with more occurring every year.

The Paddington terrace broke the barrier in 1988 when a century-old Glenview Street home fetched $1.012 million. It's possible Sydney's first near million-dollar suburb was Longueville, small and mostly waterfront, where the average price of houses sold at 1989 auction was $1,064,625.

By 1997 there were seven Sydney suburbs boasting a median house value of more than that based on figures compiled by Australian Property Monitors.

The million-dollar suburbs were Point Piper, Darling Point, Balmoral, Clifton Gardens, Bellevue Hill, Vaucluse and Longueville as almost 1200 Sydney dwellings changed hands for more than $1 million in 1997, more than double the 1995 number of 560 and five times the 234 recorded in 1993.

Million-dollar homes accounted for more than 7% of the value of all Sydney sales in 1997, compared with 2.5% in 1993. By 2004 there were 65 Sydney suburbs with seven figure medians, up to 85 by 2008.

One of the Sydney suburbs - comfortably over at $1.1 million compared to Pittwater council's $980,000 median - is Avalon where cricket broadcaster Michael Slater and his wife Jo sold last week for $3.2 million.

The Hampton's style house was marketed by selling agent Bill Eames with a price guide of more than $3 million ahead of the LJ Hooker auction.

The Slaters bought the Catalina Crescent property (pictured below) in 2007 for $1.43 million, prompting a two year building process.

{yoogallery src=[images/stories/2013/10/23/av]}

They want a Pittwater waterfront.

Slater, now co-host on Network Nine's NRL The Footy Show, played 74 tests and 42 one day internationals for the Australian cricket team between 1993 and 2001.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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