Jarrard and Ruth Scott are selling their unit in Brookvale, a cheaper alternative to nearby suburbs. Picture: Tim Hunter
Sydney buyers priced out of their dream suburbs can save hundreds of thousands of dollars — even millions — by purchasing just one postcode over.
“Bridesmaid” suburbs emerged in recent years due to uneven growth in the housing market, with average prices in some suburbs up to $1.5m lower than in ”bride” suburbs, research shows.
Other areas have simply flown under the radar of buyers and tenants for an extended time and the lower demand has kept prices and rents well below those in more trendy locations nearby.
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Apartment hunters who have their sights set on Concord can save more than $561,000 by looking one suburb over to Homebush West.
And buyers looking to set up home in Cronulla could purchase a house in nearby Caringbah for up to $935,000 less.
Realestate.com.au data showed some of the biggest price discrepancies were on the northern beaches in suburbs Manly Vale, Dee Why and Brookvale.
Properties in Miranda, Lalor Park, Asquith, Tempe and North Ryde also offered better value than comparable houses in neighbouring suburbs.
“The factors that lead to the (price) gaps are things like beach access, housing is tight, block sizes and physical geography,” Realestate.com.au chief economist Nerida Conisbee said.
Apartment prices and rents also tended to be cheaper in areas where there was more housing developments, she said.
“In some of these locations I would say they’re worth saving the money … you can enjoy some of the amenities that the blue-chip suburbs have,” Ms Conisbee said.
The data, which compares the median house prices of adjacent postcodes, shows homebuyers can snare a home in the semi-industrial suburb of Brookvale for about $1.32m, $424,000 cheaper than in neighbouring Dee Why and nearly half the median price in nearby Balgowlah Heights.
Local residents Jarrard Scott, 32, and wife Ruth, 29, said most people did not even know there were houses in Brookvale.
“Most people have no idea what it’s like once you get off the main road,” Mr Scott said.
“Many of the old warehouses and factories are being turned into restaurants and cafes and there are a lot of distilleries. It’s changing pretty fast.”
The couple are selling their unit in a building at 517 Pittwater Rd through McGrath-Manly’s Tim Cullen after buying a house in the suburb and said most other buyers competing against them were families wanting houses with yards.
MANLY SALE: this two-bedroom unit on Tower St is listed for $875,000.
MANLY VALE SALE: This two-bedroom unit on Lovett St in Manly Vale is $675,000.
“You’re still only five minutes’ from the beach and you’re near the biggest shopping mall (on the Northern Beaches), so it’s appealing,” Ms Scott said.
Further south, unit prices in Manly Vale had a median of $790,000 which was about $635,000 cheaper than in next door Manly, largely because of the further distance from the beach.
Ms Conisbee said some buyers would find the longer walk to the water from Manly Vale worth the significant price saving.
On the upper north shore, Asquith was considerably more affordable than surrounding suburbs, including Warrawee, where house prices were an average of $1.27m more expensive.
With a median house price of $1.02m, Asquith was also about $170,000 cheaper than in nearby Hornsby.
BELLA VISTA: this four-bedroom house on 33 Francesco Crescent is $1.6m-$1.65m.
LALOR PARK this four-bedder on Vardys Rd is selling for $770,000-$805,000.
North Ryde was an average of about $1.36m cheaper than neighbouring north shore suburb Lindfield, which tends to have older, larger homes.
Select Property’s Jeremy Sheppard, the developer of a price predictor system known as Location Score, said neighbour price gaps were often temporary.
“Buyers will move to the cheaper areas once it gets too expensive in one location. It’s a ripple effect,” Mr Sheppard said, adding the savings often made it worth losing a feature such as beach proximity.
“No single location can keep going up in price. Buyers eventually get priced out and they consider the cheaper alternatives.”
Jarrard and Ruth Scott said most people didn’t even realise their were houses in their suburb.
The most extreme savings were in suburbs near Sydney’s premium eastern suburbs.
Houses in Bondi Junction, for example, were an average of about $3m cheaper than in the more exclusive Bellevue Hill, where the average price was $5.6m.
Bondi houses were about $2.37m cheaper than Vaucluse houses. T
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