Sydney is now ranked among the most expensive cities in the world for real estate.

According to the latest data from CoreLogic, Sydney’s median home price is 75% higher than Brisbane’s $486,000 and a third higher than Melbourne’s $641,200. With the harbour city’s median home price hitting a record $852,000, many house hunters who can’t afford such astronomical prices are being forced to migrate north for more affordable housing.

Those who choose to stay put are now spending almost half of their income on mortgage payments (homes now cost 10 times more than the average annual wage).  

John McGrath, founder and executive director of McGrath Estate Agents, called Sydney’s post-GFC boom “surprising”, and likens Sydney’s real estate prices to Manhattan’s. 

It’s now almost impossible for wage earners on average incomes to buy homes in inner-Sydney suburbs. “You’ve almost got to be white-collar or have inherited some money,’’ McGrath told news.com.au. “Sydney is the New York of ­Australia. Like in Manhattan, people just accept that if they want the lifestyle, they’ll have to rent.’’
 
Record low interest rates, combined with an acute housing shortage and strong foreign investment, have sent prices through the roof, especially in Sydney’s inner west.
 
Home values have increased an astonishing 147% over the past five years in Homebush, a suburb in the inner west of Sydney. The suburb now boasts a $2 million median house price. Other highly priced suburbs include Chiswick (where the median house price is now $3.375 million) and Strathfield South (where the median house price is now $1.491 million).
 
The Sydney property boom is transforming ordinary homeowners into instant millionaires, and many Baby Boomers who’ve purchased property in the city decades ago are now cashing in.

Others are selling their homes and moving to cheaper areas with attractive housing, like southern Queensland. “People living in an average house are sitting on $2 million to $3 million but are very short of cash for day-to-day living [expenses],’’ McGrath told The Daily ­Telegraph.
 
“They could make a very sensible decision to move to a market that is more ­affordable…and move to a glamorous house on the Gold Coast for $750,000.’’
 

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