The 9 suburbs making their debut in Sydney and Melbourne's $2 million dollar club

A string of suburbs in Sydney and Melbourne have risen through the ranks, surpassing the $1 million club and joining the exclusive $2 million property market, new data has revealed.

Nine suburbs across the two cities, as well as Byron Bay in northern NSW, have made their debut in the $2 million club, according to the Domain House Price Report. 

Just one was from Melbourne – bayside Beaumaris, 20 kilometres south-east of Melbourne’s CBD, which recorded a median house price of $2.007 million in the fourth quarter of last year.

The suburb’s median had hovered around the $1.9 million mark last year until several high-end sales pushed its median over the edge, says Michael Cooney of Hodges Real Estate Beaumaris.

Cooney sold a four-bedroom property on 693 square metres of land at 15 Hume Street for $2.175 million and 31 Haldane Street, on more than 800 square metres, for $3.4 million.

“We’re seeing the return of high-end properties to market,” he says. “I’m surprised it wasn’t [at $2 million] already.

“We have two [types of] people coming in: people buying trophy homes up to $10 million and townhouse buyers – who are people downsizing from … eastern suburbs like Camberwell, Surrey Hills and Canterbury.”

SOLD - $3,400,000

31 Haldane Street, Beaumaris VIC 3193

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With fewer than 5500 dwellings in the suburb, demand far outweighs supply, Cooney adds.

“There’s a bigger queue to get in than to get out and that’s what will continue to drive the prices because we’re ‘landlocked’ – we have the bay, the golf club and other sought-after suburbs around us,” he says. “It’s a small suburb with very high demand, and it’ll only continue growing.”

Just making it into the $2 million club was Ashfield in Sydney’s inner west, whose median is exactly that amount.

Byron Bay also made it with a slightly higher median of $2.06 million.

SOLD - $2,300,000

5 Joseph Street, Ashfield NSW 2131

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Peter Yopp of Byron Bay Real Estate Agency says the seaside suburb has always been a popular destination for house hunters.

“There were a lot of people who came and left since the COVID period but a lot have also stayed and a lot are coming because there’s a love for the place,” he says.

“For $2 million, you can buy an older house on 600 to 800 square metres on the fringe of Byron. If it’s a house within 2.5 to three kilometres of the water, you can get a more modern three-bedroom townhouse or unit.

“It’s just one of those places on the East Coast that is hard to replicate because there’s much to love, from the water [to] its location and the overall charm of Byron Bay.”

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3/140 Jonson Street, Byron Bay NSW 2481

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Alexandria in Sydney’s south also featured in the club with a median of $2.03 million, joining 87 suburbs in the $2 million range across NSW and Victoria.

“I’ve worked in the suburb for 24 years now so it was kind of a matter of time before we were going to get there,” says Brad Gillespie of The Agency Eastern Suburbs.

Gillespie says the rise of Alexandria’s house prices was propelled even further when interest rates increased.

“When rates were low, people were able to afford suburbs that were close to the city like Darlinghurst or Surry Hills,” he says. “When rates rose, those [buyers] were pushed out of those suburbs and into Alexandria and they all merged with existing Alexandria buyers.

“I think we were all a bit surprised with how the market ended in 2022 because it was quite negative … but when we came back in January, you [could] tell from the get-go that there were more buyers out and about. It was already getting somewhat positive even in January and it just climbed throughout all of 2023.”

SOLD - $3,650,000

130 Belmont Street, Alexandria NSW 2015

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Gillespie recently achieved a sale of $3.765 million for 130 Belmont Street, a newly built four-bedroom property spread across three levels with a carport and plunge pool. 

“A result like that uplifts all the sales across the board,” he says. “It’s the same thing when we went through the million-dollar magical barrier many years ago now. The more often we see results of $3 million or above, it just raises the market upwards into that territory”