Sydney-wide data shows that our city’s property market has been slowing in early 2022.
But that’s not necessarily what we’re seeing here in Darling Point.
In fact, our suburb seems to have bucked many of the major trends affecting the Sydney property market in 2022. We explore how and why.
A snapshot of the Sydney property market in April 2022
In the 12 months to March 2022, the median Sydney property price lifted an incredible 25.5%, according to CoreLogic data. This compares to average annual growth of 7.8
Since then, however, the Sydney median price has remained relatively flat – rising just 0.3% in the first quarter of this year and actually falling -0.3% over February and March. This is the first time the Sydney market has seen a decline in 18 months – or the early days of the pandemic.
While a decline may seem like disappointing news, it shouldn’t be when you put it into perspective. -0.3% over two months is negligible and is unlikely to affect the value of most homes in any tangible way. Instead, it needs to be remembered that the Sydney property market is still 17.7% higher than it was this time last year.
Even those people who bought relatively recently will have made a substantial gain in the value of their homes.
The factors at play right now
A flatter Sydney market is the result of several factors. On the demand side, tougher lending criteria and talk of rising interest rates – especially for fixed-term loans – have impacted how much a lot of people have available to spend on a property. We’ve also noticed some people taking a ‘wait and see’ approach, based on the upcoming federal election and global uncertainty.
On the supply side, many more priorities have come to market this year across Sydney, giving buyers more choice. Over the pandemic, low stock levels helped create a sense of urgency for many buyers, helping to drive prices up. SQM now reports that property listings are back to their pre-pandemic levels.
Why the Darling Point property market is different
Here in Darling Point, the latest data from realestate.com.au paints a different story to the one taking place across Sydney more broadly. At the end of February 2022, the median unit price in Darling Point was $2.475 million. That’s up from $1.74 million a year previously – or a rise of 42.2% over 12 months.
Just researching the market?
Interestingly, our local market also rose markedly over the first couple of months of the year – with the median value lifting 10.7% – even as Sydney-wide prices remained flat.
What makes this performance even more impressive is that, as a whole, house prices (and Darling Point has few houses, compared to many units) have been well-and-truly outperforming apartment prices over the past couple of years. In fact, across Sydney, unit values grew at almost half the rate of houses over 2022 – 14.3% to 24.8% – according to CoreLogic, making the gap between them as vast as it has ever been,
This trend simply wasn’t reflected in Darling Point’s numbers.
Different factors at play in Darling Point
The reality is that the Sydney market can’t be seen as a whole. While there are macro trends that impact the whole market – such as economic confidence – others factors affect different areas differently.
A major demographic in our area is downsizers – many of whom are cash buyers and have recently sold their family homes for substantially more than they may have expected a year ago. Affordability and interest rate rises don’t affect these buyers in the same way.
Professionals are also overrepresented in our area (Census data reveals 43% of employed locals identified as ‘professionals’ and another 35.6% as ‘managerial’). Many have been experiencing strong business conditions over the past couple of years and are willing to spend to secure the right home.
So quality properties in a premium setting like Darling Point are still attracting considerable interest.
Thinking of buying or selling in Darling Point? Get in touch today.
