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