Despite the disappointment of 2021 not resulting in any breathtaking record house price, many suburbs did in fact register record prices. That said, none of these records included the big 3 luxury suburbs of Point Piper, Vaucluse and Bellevue Hill.
Vaucluse kept its record house price at $70M, with the highest sale in 2021, exactly half at $35M. Bellevue Hills’ record of $58M set in 2018 stayed safe, with the highest sale in the suburb in 2021 at $30M. Point Piper’s and Australia’s house record of $100M is more than double 2021’s suburb record of $45M.
Now, back to the suburb record prices that have been shattered in 2021 for houses.
The Inner West suburb of Strathfield rewrote the suburb record twice in 2021. Firstly at $9.05M in July and again at $10.9M in December. Also, in the Inner West at Hunters Hill, a reported $20M was paid, breaking the previous $18M record set for Cate Blanchett’s former home in 2017.
On the Northern Beaches, Balgowlah Heights had a new record at $12.15M, eclipsing the 2017 record of $11.8M. At picturesque Bayview, $16M became the new record, beating the 2020 record of $11.5M which incidentally resold in 2021 for $15M. At Collaroy, a beachfront took out the record at $16M, beating the 2019 record of $10M. So much for rising sea levels. Finally, the Palm Beach, North Shore and Northern Beaches record of $25M was broken with a waterfront property at the highly sought-after Iluka Road position selling for $27M.
The leafy Upper North Shore did not see any records in Wahroonga or Warrawee but Pymble broke the $9.875M record of 2020 with a $12M entry in November 2021. At Killara, a whopping $16.5M set the suburb and Upper North Shore record, having previously traded in 2014 for $9.6M.
On the Lower North Shore, a massive $24.1M was paid, beating the early 2021 record breaking price of $11.65M.
In the Eastern Suburbs, $45M was paid in Woollahra, almost double the previous suburb record. In the beachside suburbs; Tamarama hit $25.5M, well above the earlier 2021 record price of $16.5M. At Bronte, the new record of $23.388M was well above the previous $17.9M record.
Down in the Sutherland Shire, often referred to as “The Shire”, $14M was paid just prior to Christmas to beat the 2017 record of $10.85M.
Up in the Hills District at Dural, the $10.85M record of 2018, was broken in October at $11M, only to lose its crown a month later with a $11.1M sale.
So, whilst the luxury market reflected healthy interest and many suburb records, the very upper end of the market was somewhat lacklustre with no sales higher than $45M for a house. The majority of the activity being in the $15M - $25M bracket. There were only 19 house sales above the $25M mark.
| Total | 352.2 | 440.5 | 274.0 | 353.1 | 380.0 |
| Lowest | 22.5 | 28.5 | 20.0 | 20.0 | 34.0 |
| Highest | 71.0 | 100.0 | 40.0 | 95.0 | 45.0 |
| Medium | 30.1 | 35.0 | 23.1 | 31.0 | 36.5 |
| Top 10 Sydney House Prices per year | |||||
| Rank | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| 1 | 71 | 100 | 40 | 95 | 45 |
| 2 | 45 | 58 | 37 | 36 | 45 |
| 3 | 36 | 50 | 34 | 34 | 40 |
| 4 | 33 | 45 | 32.5 | 33 | 38.5 |
| 5 | 30.3 | 39 | 23.56 | 32 | 38 |
| 6 | 30 | 31 | 22.6 | 30 | 35 |
| 7 | 30 | 30.5 | 22 | 20 | 35 |
| 8 | 28 | 29.5 | 21.8 | 24.6 | 35 |
| 9 | 26.5 | 29 | 20.5 | 24.5 | 34.5 |
| 10 | 22.45 | 28.52 | 20 | 24 | 34 |
All amounts in $M AUD
Source: Pricefinder/Acumentis Research
As for forecasting 2022? Good luck. Just scroll back to February 2020 and all the predictions were of impending doom for property. The opposite happened. At the moment, there are no reasons to believe the luxury end of the market is in a bubble or without any substance. There is plenty of money out there looking for a good home - literally.
The real concern not being addressed, other than the COVID-19 pandemic, is the inflation pandemic. This is a genuine problem that is currently being overlooked. Even the United States of America are starting to accept that inflation is not transitory, as first suggested. Economies around the world, are starting to feel the pain of inflation, and at some point, politics will come to the fore.
The pressing question for 2022 is, who has the vaccine for inflation and will it work? One thing that is certain, any cure for inflation will come with side effects.