Buying in McMahons Point

By Alex May

Dotted with chi chi restaurants, homewares stores and upmarket boutiques, McMahons Point is no longer a working class suburb on the wrong side of town.

With Blues Point Tower jutting like a grey beacon at the southern end and North Sydney CBD’s office towers swamping the northern end, this peninsula suburb is like a breath of fresh air amongst the high rise.
There is a charming mix of leafy streets with old timber cottages, Victorian terraces and even the odd grand residence, cheek by jowl with 1930s apartments.

Before the Harbour Bridge was built, McMahons Point was one of poorest areas in Sydney and was famous for housing hardworking boat builders, murderers and sly groggers.
Now, Australian Property Monitors says the median house in the peninsula suburb is $1.177 million, with the record price at $9 million for a five-bedroom house on Warung St.
“Parts of Banks St used to be so seedy that there used to be murders there all the time, but these days it costs and arm and a leg to buy anything there,” says North Shore Historical Society president Brian Evesson.
L.J. Hooker McMahons Point agent Jenny Carter says McMahons Point prices took off in the 1980s, as North Sydney’s CBD expanded and people wanted to be close to the city.

Now, the average buyer is a classic empty nester coming from the upper north shore or Mosman who wants to downsize to a low maintenance house which is close to the action.
“These people are happy to spend $2 million on something that is close to restaurants and the city,” she says.
“It is a lot of money for the size of the property, especially when you realise that the same money will get you something on 1600 square metres in Roseville or Pymble.”
She says McMahons Point is similar to other working class foreshore suburbs like Balmain and Birchgrove, with many renovated older style houses on small land sizes of 300 square metres or less.
“Having off street parking can be rare in McMahons Point, so any houses that do have it fetch a better price,” she says.
The eastern side of the suburb is more expensive than the west, with many elevated streets offering prime Opera House and Harbour Bridge views.

Century 21 Blues Realty sales manager Wendy Mason says Waiwera, Bayview and Warung are the premium streets in the suburb.
“Houses on those streets will get good prices because the views they offer are so rare,” she says.
“And houses in general are rare in McMahons Point. I would say only 10 per cent of all thee properties available in the area are freestanding houses.”