House prices rise by up to $20,000 a week in sought-after neighbourhoods, data shows

House prices in some of the most sought-after neighbourhoods in Australia have been rising as much as $20,000 a week in the months before lockdown, new analysis shows.

And stay-at-home orders have prompted new buyers to search in areas where they can find more spacious family homes with backyards or easy access to the beach.

In Sydney’s Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury region, house prices jumped to a median $1.62 million in the June quarter, compared to $1.35 million in the March quarter, a total gain of $270,000, the latest Domain House Price Report shows.

That’s a gain of $20,769 a week over the June quarter.

House prices in several areas of Sydney rose at a breakneck pace, including the eastern suburbs ($18,807 a week), North Sydney and Hornsby ($18,000), Ryde ($16,884), the northern beaches ($16,000), Sutherland ($13,211), and the city and inner south ($12,692).

Elsewhere, Canberra recorded strong growth of $7138 per week as the national capital’s property market escaped the brunt of the pandemic until recently.

Hobart apartment prices have been jumping by $5153 per week, while Melbourne’s sea-change hotspot the Mornington Peninsula rose $4076 per week and Darwin units added $5000 a week.

Prices have been rising on the back of ultra-low interest rates, government stimuli, cash savings from cancelled overseas holidays or entertainment, and demand for bigger homes to spend more time in – making it a challenge for savers hoping to get into the market to keep up, especially in an era of lacklustre wages growth and COVID restrictions on workers.

“A lot of people are wanting more space and Baulkham Hills is that area that provides that, and within a good neighbourhood,” Manor Real Estate director Jay Bacani said. “We’re finding a lot of people from the inner-west and Ryde.”

Mr Bacani was previously getting eight to 10 bidders at auction on average, and since the lockdown has seen that jump to 10 to 15 – or sometimes more than 20 – as serious buyers look for an escape or to upsize.

With limited stock for sale, he has seen prices rise, citing properties that traded a year ago for about $1.2 million that now command as much as $1.7 million.

The trend of buyers wanting to move further out of the city is also strong in Melbourne, where the Mornington Peninsula has been recording strong price growth.

“Everyone can work a lot more from home, and wanting more of a lifestyle property and a bit more space so they can get out for a bit of fresh air while they’re working,” Belle Property Mornington director Bill Joycey said. “It just keeps pushing prices up.”

With Melbourne’s real estate market in hibernation and private tours banned during lockdown, he had recently made a couple of sales sight-unseen. Interest is keen in four-bedroom homes with gardens and open space.

In a recent online auction, Mr Joycey sold for $1,626,500 a home with a reserve of $1.35 million. He said he expected a little more growth this spring even as more homes were listed for sale.

“Once it opens up we expect a big floodgate to be open. Buyers will be screaming for properties and trying to secure a purchase before the next lockdown,” he said.

Some city escapees are moving off the mainland altogether, chasing the island-within-an-island refuge of Tasmania during the pandemic.

Kim Morgan, a director of Peterswald for Property, called it a once-in-a-generation market and estimated Hobart prices had risen about as much in the past few months as during the whole of the 1990s.

“One day last week I had three phone calls from families in Melbourne who were like, ‘We’ve had enough, we want to come to Tassie,’” he said. “We are certainly seeing a lot of lifestyle purchasers.”

Hobart has previously welcomed new arrivals fleeing the effects of climate change and bushfires, which Mr Morgan compared to buyers escaping the pandemic.

With so much competition, winning buyers are making outlier offers to secure properties after missing out several times. Mr Morgan said one home he sold a few weeks ago had 11 offers and the winner had been unsuccessful seven times, while another with five to six offers was won by a buyer who had missed out five times before.

In the national capital, prices have also soared in a city that has been little affected by the virus until recently.

Blackshaw Real Estate managing director Andrew Chamberlain, who has been fielding interstate enquiries, highlighted the strong jobs market and the lifestyle on offer.

In a typical market, he would see two to three bidders at auction, but with little for sale, he’s now averaging closer to 10.

“The price growth has been really astronomical,” he said. “When all of this starts to settle down I think we’ll be in for a gentler return to a normal growth pattern.”