Sydney suburbs with the biggest house price increases

“People can no longer afford to buy in the suburbs and are looking for cheaper places to buy. That in itself can push up house prices,” she said.

In the apartment market, buyers favoured luxury units in Kirribilli (up 34.3 per cent to $1,575,000) and Double Bay (up 18.2 per cent to $1,956,000).

Buyers’ agent Henny Stier said buyers were looking further out than their ideal suburbs to avoid expensive mortgages as the cost of living continued to rise.

“People are forced to consider living further away than their ideal location – they have to make compromises,” said the OH Property Group co-founder.

“They self-regulate because they don’t want to be under tremendous financial pressure.”

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She said that in addition to popular inner-city areas, the fastest-growing areas included more affordable but relatively central areas. For example, Marsfield, west of Ryde, was close to public transport, shopping, healthcare and Macquarie University.

She attributed the increase in the number of units to demand from downsizers who can afford to pay top dollar for luxury condos.

The general rise in housing prices has put pressure on home buyers.

Krish Waje and her partner Quincy Lim are moving to the Blue Mountains from western Sydney for a change of lifestyle, a bigger home and better value for money – but they still need to move further away and borrow more money than they expected.

“We’ve always wanted to go to the Blue Mountains but initially we were looking for something closer to Sydney in the lower Blue Mountains, such as Springwood, Blaxland and Winmalee,” the 26-year-old business owner said.

“Houses will sell — they’ll sell for a little or a lot more than they were originally listed for.”

After keeping an eye out for all the other young couples at property viewings and stretching their budget, they found a place in the Mid Mountains. Her partner also sold his first home in Edmonson Park.

“House prices in Sydney are crazy. For the size of the block we bought, it would have cost a minimum of $3 million to buy in Sydney. So we’re very grateful that we don’t have to pay a high price to live like this,” she said.

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Impact Economics and Policy chief economist Dr Angela Jackson said the housing market had exceeded expectations, with prices rising despite rising interest rates.

She said widespread price increases across suburbs meant that for young Australians hoping to buy a home, it was unlikely to be possible without significant help from their parents.

She attributed the rise in house prices to supply and demand, as not enough new homes were being built to meet the growing population and empty nesters tended to continue living in their existing homes rather than downsizing and reselling the housing stock. She also pointed out that there was demand for real estate as a tax-advantaged form of investment and called for reforms to stamp duty and capital gains tax.

“This problem has only gotten worse over time. So now it’s becoming increasingly out of reach for middle-income earners and even high-income earners to enter the property market without help from the bank of mum and dad,” she said.