Sydney suburbs where homes are selling for huge discounts

Home seekers across pockets of Sydney have been given a double dose of good fortune: their loan costs are getting cheaper as interest rates drop but they’re also scoring unthinkable price discounts.

Exclusive new analysis has revealed multiple city pockets where home buyers have been securing deals averaging 10 per cent below the list price, helping them save upwards of $100,000.

Deals of this magnitude have rarely been seen in the years since the Covid pandemic hit, when record levels of migration and sluggish home building resulted in housing demand outstripping supply.

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Most of the biggest discounts were secured on apartments across Sydney’s middle ring, according to the study of private treaty sales by research group SuburbData.

There were also outer areas along prominent train lines where house discounting rates were high.

First-home buyer Kelly Olive recently bought a Rockdale home below list price. Picture Thomas Lisson

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SuburbData analyst Jeremy Sheppard said these suburbs were “buyer’s markets” where home seekers were entering price negotiations from a stronger position.

“Whatever situation the market is in, whether it’s oversupply or some other factor, higher discounts reflect that buyers are in control and sellers have to take what is given to them,” Mr Sheppard said.

Suburbs with particularly high average vendor discounting on units were Merrylands West, near Parramatta, and Rosebery in Sydney’s south, according to the study by research group SuburbData.

Merrylands West apartments were typically selling for about 15 per cent cheaper than the advertised price, while in Rosebery the average discount was 13 per cent.

Sydneywide, the average discount on properties of all types, is about 1-2 per cent for private treaty sales, while the average price secured by auction was higher than the price guide.

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Source: SuburbData.

Other suburbs where buyers secured unit prices an average of 10 per cent below the list price over the 12 months to March were Hurstville, Epping and Surry Hills. Rockdale unit buyers were getting discounting of close to 9 per cent.

Recent buyers, accustomed to properties selling for well over the advertised price guides, said they couldn’t believe the kind of bargains they were getting.

Kelly Olive, 37, who recently bought an apartment in Rockdale for below list price said she felt as though there was someone watching over her.

“I can’t believe how lucky I got,” she said. “It looks like interest rates are going to go down and I got a great unit. I really feel like I bought at just the right time.”

Ms Olive added that she didn’t have the same luck earlier in her home search, when she had confined her search to the inner west.

The majority of homes that sold at auction were for a price higher than the price guide. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“Everything was selling for way over the price guides. It was overwhelming,” she said.

“Then I was told I’d get better value in Rockdale. I hadn’t considered the area before. It was a good choice.”

A family of four who bought a duplex earlier this year in Revesby, where the average house is selling for 8 per cent below the list price, said they got their home for $105,000 below the original price.

“We later learned we were the only ones who put in an offer and the sellers needed to move quickly. It was the right place at the right time,” one of the buyers said.

Home seekers in other parts of Sydney have not been as lucky. SuburbData research showed there were many areas where the average unit or house was selling for above the list price.

Unit buyers were paying an average of 13 per cent above list price in the suburb of Sutherland, in Sydney’s south, and 8 per cent above list price in nearby Cronulla.

Housing demand remains hot in most of Sydney and in the bulk of suburbs discounts remain rare. Picture: Damian Shaw

It was a similar story in North Kellyville, in the northwest, where units were typically selling for 10 per cent above list price, while in southwest suburb Ingleburn houses were selling for 11 per cent over.

“Properties selling for well above the advertised prices indicates the buyers are often desperate,” Mr Sheppard said.

“Agents don’t give buyers the time of day in these markets because demand exceeds supply and they know there are plenty of buyers competing on every listing.”

Mortgage Choice Inner West broker Chantelle Rangel said there may only be a small window for new purchasers to capitalise on softer buying conditions in various areas as coming interest rates may heat the market.

Ms Olive said she felt like she bought in the right place at the right time. Picture Thomas Lisson

“There is always a frenzy of demand as soon as rates drop … I’ve never been so busy,” she said.

“What’s interesting is, we’ve had a significant increase in Investor pre-approvals as well as people wanting to purchase in their self managed super funds, now that affordability from a personal cash flow perspective has improved with owner occupied repayments becoming more manageable.”

Mr Sheppard said buying in an area where vendors were accepting offers well below list prices often came with a downside.

“Buyer’s markets are ironically not so good to buy into if you want the value of the property to go up quickly,” he said.

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