The suburb’s median price was almost $1 million higher than the next highest listed suburb, Tamarama, also in Sydney, research for RP Data shows.
Some seven of the top 10 most expensive suburbs in Australia last year were in Sydney, with two in Melbourne and one in Perth.
The tiny new east Melbourne suburb of Deepdene, which was part of Balwyn until 2010, was the most expensive Victorian suburb, with a median house price of $2,495,000 for the 15 homes sold there.
RP Data research analyst Cameron Kusher said the total number of Australian suburbs with a median house price of $1 million or more fell from 225 to 194, a 14% drop from 2010 to 2011, reflecting a weak performance across the housing market.
Kusher said the unstable global economy meant consumers were acting cautiously and increasingly opting to save and pay off existing debt rather than spending. Property values fell, fewer sales took place and demand for upmarket housing was particularly weak as a result, and this was unlikely to change in 2012.
‘For the coming 12 months, we are not expecting a substantial improvement in the premium housing market and subsequently it appears unlikely that there will be a significant change in the number of suburbs with a median price of $1 million or more,’ he said.
But in other parts of the country floods and the economic crisis have had a severe impact on property prices. Sellers were forced to cut prices by almost a quarter in premium postcodes including Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast and Western Australia’s millionaire’s row Peppermint Grove. The areas with the top 10 price falls of the year include Mittagong in the New South Wales Southern Highlands and Golden Beach in Victoria.
But it is properties in flood affected North Booval, a suburb of Ipswich near Brisbane, which has experienced the worst price fall with houses dropping by 46.3% to $154,000.
Kusher said that some homes in Ipswich’s flood hit areas were now unsaleable but said buyers had short memories when it came to natural disasters and if sellers cut the price enough, any property will sell. ‘If it doesn’t flood for another five years buying activity will return to those areas,’ he said.
He pointed out that while prices dipped in the towns affected by the Victoria bushfires and Cyclone Larry in North Queensland, sales volume and prices picked up within 12 months.
Kusher said property prices had also been affected by slower interstate migration, particularly in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
