Spotlight on Sydney

"The Sydney market has received a lot of negative attention, however in recent times it appears that the Sydney market recovery is well on track.

Price growth has been evident in the market since early 2007. Since the beginning of the year Sydney house prices have increased by 8.1 per cent and unit prices have gone up 9.9 per cent. The price increases reflect the broad Sydney market, however when we drill down we can see that the market is far from homogenous. While the inner city and coastal areas of Sydney are performing exceptionally well (Inner Sydney up by 18.2 per cent and the Eastern Suburbs up by 15.7 per cent) the outer areas of Sydney are still struggling. Fairfield-Liverpool has faired the worst, with prices falling by 5.4 per cent over the year.

These outer areas may be in for a change, however, with the rental market showing very competitive yields and more investors starting to circle as the market bottoms. The median value of a house in the Fairfield-Liverpool region is now just over $361,000, having fallen by 18 per cent since prices peaked back in December 2003." Extract from RP Data reports