The suburbs rising so fast they soared past $2 million in just three months

A handful of suburbs across the nation have cracked the exclusive $2 million and $3 million property market in just three months, new data has revealed.

Median prices in four suburbs across three cities have soared past the $1 millions to join the $2 million club, while Haberfield in Sydney has hit a new benchmark of $3.088 million, according to Domain data.

NSW suburbs dominate the list, but Queensland and Victorian suburbs have also secured a spot.

Hawthorne in Brisbane is now one of five suburbs in Queensland with a median house price of $2 million. 

Local real estate agent Chris Lawsen of Harcourts Inner East says Hawthorne has always been one of the top-performing suburbs in Brisbane, so it was no surprise that it’s reached a $2 million median.

“[Hawthorne] always had a high demand, and I guess it’s just been exacerbated with the economic conditions and the lack of backup stock,” he says.

SOLD - $1,163,000

2/23 Forbes Street, Hawthorne QLD 4171

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“It’s still relatively affordable from a larger market perspective than Sydney or Melbourne. You get a lot of bang for your buck. People moving from Sydney and Melbourne, what they can get here is a lot bigger than they can get there.

“There are significant numbers of [homes] with 400-square-metre blocks, but there’s also plenty of six, eight and 900 square metre blocks. People find it appealing, for families particularly.”

At inspections, there are usually between 15 to 20 groups viewing a Hawthorne property, and at auctions, there are typically six to 10 bidders, says Lawsen.

He adds that the restrictions placed in Hawthorne, where properties built before 1937 can’t be knocked down and new buildings are not allowed to be taller than 9.5 metres, has created a limited density for the area, further fuelling the supply and demand issue.

Despite Melbourne’s median house price dipping in the last quarter, the southern suburb of Sandringham grew by 2.4 per cent, pushing the median to exactly $2 million. 

Samuel Jay of Marshall White Bayside says reaching the $2 million mark was bound to happen since Sandringham is considered a bridesmaid suburb for Brighton (median house price of $2.87 million) and Hampton (median house price of $2.2 million).

SOLD - $4,000,000

15 Sims Street, Sandringham VIC 3191

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“[Sandringham] is so close to the beach, has nice houses with beach views, and it’s close to the shops and the train station,” he says.

“You have houses with tennis courts, bigger houses, and also you have average houses of three to four-bedroom family homes.”

Due to the lack of properties available at any given time, Jay says the few homes that go on sale see up to 15 groups at each inspection and are sold in less than a month.

While Sandringham is now in the $2 million club, Jay says most of the rapid price growth happened during COVID-19, but since then, prices have slowed. However, he doesn’t expect prices to go backward.

Only four suburbs nationwide fell out of the $2 million club this quarter, including coastal hotspots Byron Bay and Noosa Heads, blue-chip inner-Brisbane suburb Hamilton and Melbourne’s leafy South Yarra. 

Alex Harris of Noosa4Sale Pty Ltd attributes the price drop in Noosa Heads to record-low stock in the current market.

“With very few properties, normally, you would expect prices to go up, but because there are few comparable sales, and there’s no urgency with buyers, they have been able to negotiate better prices,” she says.

“We do expect them back this winter. So now’s the time to buy because prices are down a little bit. But they will come back, and we’re already seeing evidence of that.”

SOLD - $740,000

3/37 Thomas Street, Noosaville QLD 4566

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A single suburb joined the $3 million club in the last quarter: Haberfield, in Sydney, is now one of 22 suburbs nationwide to have passed that median price.

Henriette Masmeyer of The Agency Inner West says the Sydney suburb is a little piece of history that stands still in time and has seen house prices grow due to its uniqueness. 

“[Haberfield] is just so vastly different from its surrounding suburbs. It’s very different from Leichhardt, which is much more densely populated. It’s a bit more spread out, and it’s very suburban in the middle of quite a dense urban area.

“Ninety-one per cent of properties in Haberfield are houses. It’s a whole area that has a conservation order, and it’s known as the heritage suburb because it has a lot of Federation [homes], and they’re trying to retain that.

“There’s a lot of houses that are on 700 square metres, and it’s six kilometres from the city.”

Due to all the conservation restrictions, it’s become challenging to develop or rebuild in Haberfield, which puts pressure on the price of existing houses, says Masmeyer. 

$3,695,000

212 Alt Street, Haberfield NSW 2045

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“There is always a very high demand for properties in Haberfield, and there’s never really enough supply,” she says. “You can get anywhere between 70 and 90 [houses] sold in a year.”

“With $3 million, you’re probably looking at a house that needs work. It wouldn’t be a finished product. You’d probably have to be looking at over four heading towards the five [million dollar price mark] for something that has a recent renovation.”

Masmeyer says the suburb is tighter than other places because people who buy in Haberfield do so intending to live in the property until they die, so anything that comes into the market is due to someone passing away or downsizing.