But a thorough and creative dissection has found a number of affordable pockets in the sprawling NSW capital with strong growth potential, according to Starr Partners chief executive Douglas Driscoll.
The property expert has run his eyes over the data and come up with a top 10 list of suburbs possessing his three attributes for savvy investing: infrastructure and transport; gentrification; and the ripple effect from a nearby popular suburb.
Mr Driscoll has picked out the potential hot spots in Sydney but the tips can easily be transferable to whichever city you intend to splash your cash.
RIPPLE EFFECT OR OSMOSIS
The ship has sailed for bargain hunters in eastern suburbs Bondi, Bronte, Coogee and Randwick, but Mr Driscoll says to look at nearby spots Kensington and Pagewood for growth potential.
“What typically happens is you need to be in that general vicinity and you look at the next best option which is one of the neighbouring suburbs,” he told news.com.au.
He says the city’s continued population growth means the traditionally high-end areas will have to share market strength, as the line between premium and less fashionable will become blurred.
“If you look at what constitutes the eastern suburbs and what constitutes the inner west, all of these are slowly but surely being redefined,” Mr Driscoll said.
“Somewhere like Pagewood is technically the southeast along with the likes of Roseberry and Botany, but it’s becoming an extension of the eastern suburbs.
“And with that obviously becomes greater desirability and with that comes a positive impact on prices.”
The property expert says this ripple effect or osmosis from strong markets to weak has already occurred in Redfern and Newtown.
“Now look at them both, they’re inner city trendy hipster hot spots,” he said.
EXURBS
Kensington and Pagewood will benefit from the opening of the new tram, says Mr Driscoll, while infrastructure and transport projects will increase values in Crows Nest as well as outer Sydney suburbs Busby and Oran Park.
The property expert says the south west corridor should no longer be referenced by its distance to the CBD, such is its rapid rate of development.
“Go back 10 years, people would have had to commute back into the city for work but now they don’t have to,” he said.
“If you look at the likes of Oran Park, there’s a lot of employment opportunity in and around that area in its own right.”
Mr Driscoll said the construction of private hospitals and medical centres is proof of the creation of industry and jobs in this booming region.
“That whole southwest corridor is going to become a mini city in its own right, and I think that moving forward Liverpool might be its pseudo capital,” he said.
“Liverpool may actually become the new Parramatta, its growing exponentially. There’s a lot of demand for that area, a hell of a lot of demand.”
