Point Piper tops list of Australia’s most expensive addresses

Sydney’s waterfront suburbs still rule as the most desirable and exclusive addresses in Australia, but Deepdene has overtaken Toorak as Melbourne’s most expensive suburb, according to a report released today.

The report by property information provider RP Data showed south east Sydney still dominated the top ten list – boasting six of the top 10 highest median selling house prices in the nation.

Point Piper in Sydney is still the most expensive place to live, topping the list with a median price of $5.21 million.

According to RP Data research analyst Cameron Kusher, the prestige of a Point Piper address is clear when you consider that the median selling price was almost $1 million more than in Tamarama, Australia’s second most expensive suburb. Tamarama faces the Pacific Ocean just south of Bondi Beach.

South-eastern Sydney continued to dominate with Bellevue Hill, Vaucluse and Double Bay rounding out the top five suburbs in Australia.

Little-known Deepdene, nestled between Hawthorne and Balwyn, 10 kilometres east of Melbourne’s central business district is next, followed by Dover Heights facing the Pacific Ocean north of Bondi Beach in Sydney.

Toorak, long the seat of the establishment in Melbourne, could only manage eighth in the rankings.

Dalkeith, a peninsula jutting into the Swan River 10km south-west of Perth’s CBD, was ninth.

Mosman, a suburb that pushes out into the middle of Sydney Harbour, rounded out the top 10.

Toorak recorded the biggest turnover on the list with 103 houses sold in 2011.

The most tightly-held property on the list was Point Piper, with only 14 sold in 2011, followed by Tamarama (14) and Deepdene (15).

“For the coming 12 months, we are not expecting a substantial improvement in the premium housing market,” Kusher says.

“We anticipate that this sector of the market will continue to be weighed down by the poor performance of the equities market, the unstable global economic situation and lower levels of demand for debt by consumers that continue to act cautiously and show a preference for saving and paying down debt rather than spending.

“In particular, luxury items such as homes which cost a million dollars or more appear to have lower levels of demand as consumers show a more conservative approach to spending their money.”