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THE 12 SYDNEY SUBURBS WHERE THE MEDIAN HOUSE PRICE IS $7 MILLION

Natalie Gesler Posted on 20 Apr 2017

It's the bubble within the bubble: a new report from property valuer Savills has identified the 12 Sydney suburbs where the median house price is a staggering $7 million.

Home to Sydney's social and financial elite, all of the suburbs named in the index contain the same features of sweeping harbour views, private seaside docks and easy access to the CBD.

Categorised as Sydney's "luxury market", the 12 suburbs include Darling Point, Vaucluse, Elizabeth Bay, Woollahra, Dover Heights, Rose Bay, Paddington, Potts Point, Bellevue Hill, Point Piper and Watsons Bay.

(Malcolm Turnbull's Point Piper mansion. Image: AAP Image/David Moir)

In these select suburbs, luxury homes have seen a comparably modest price growth of 8 percent a year – compared to the shockingly high annual rate of 18 percent found across the city.

According to Savills head of research Sophie Chick, buying inside the luxury bubble means you're paying a cool $6.2 million more than anyone else.

"The median price of properties in the luxury index is over $7 million compared to $795,000 across the wider Sydney market. This price point is accessible to a much wider pool of buyers than the luxury market, particularly investors who have been active in Sydney," Ms Chick told The Financial Review.

"Across the luxury market in the eastern suburbs the average price per square meter (internal and external) is $16,600. For a property on the waterfront, that increases to $24,800, a 50 percent premium."

While the majority of buyers come from professions you'd expect to live in the luxury enclave – such as bankers, doctors and lawyers – Savills Price Index also showed there was a resurgence in young professionals from tech backgrounds buying luxury housing.

While the median house price within the luxury market is unattainably high, it's important to remember suburbs like Point Piper and Vaucluse are home to $50 million mansions that drag the average up.

In 2015, Australian billionaire James Packer sold his Vaucluse mega-mansion for a whopping $70 million – making it the nation's most expensive piece of personal real-estate.

Still, if you want to rub shoulders with Sydney's elite in the most coveted harbourside suburbs, you still have some hope: Yesterday a one-bedroom attic in Elizabeth Bay went for a cool $1 million.