Buying in the Shire

By Alex May

There are two types of real estate buyers pushing up prices in the Sutherland Shire – Shire-born thirty-somethings and older empty nesters, according to local agents.

Bill Noonan First National’s Bill Noonan says the traditional families that populated The Shire throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s have spawned two groups of wealthy buyers.
“You’ve got your traditional empty nester who raised their kids here and might be sitting in a waterfront asset that doesn’t feed them – they are selling to buy low maintenance properties,” he says.
“Then you’ve got your Generation X-ers who grew up in The Shire in the 1970s and they are smart cookies who work in finance or law and they are paying upwards of a million dollars just to buy knockdowns in Cronulla.”
Denise Howell Real Estate’s Denise Howell says the advent of marketing properties for sale in the internet has attracted non-Shire residents to the area.

“If you want a great waterfront lifestyle for under $3 million, then this is probably the last area in Sydney where you can get something,” she says.
John Greig Real Estate’s John Greig says the bulk of his agency’s buyers are still locals.
“We’re now getting second and third generation Shire buyers – people who grow up here, stay here and want to raise their own families in the environment they were raised in,” he says.
Macquarie Bank’s Rod Cornish says there is still room for growth in Sutherland Shire property prices, thanks to most of the suburbs’ proximity to water.

“I think the area has further to go to catch up with the prices of similar lifestyle suburbs,” he says.
“It is still comparatively good value for Sydney.”
Local agents say the average three-bedroom house in an outer Shire suburb can cost between $500,000 and $750,000, while waterfronts can still be bought for under $1.5 million along the Woronora River.

UNDER $500,000

Units are the biggest sellers in the under $500,000 price point, with a good supply of older 1960s, 1970s and 1980s units in Cronulla and Sutherland.
“You can still pick up an older style unit for the high $300,000s in Cronulla,” says Noonan.
Greig says Sutherland offers an array of generous and modern units in the under $400,000 price range, but Sylvania, Gymea and Miranda are his pick of suburbs for unit buyers on a budget.
The prize units in The Shire are waterfronts at Cronulla, where two-bedroom units in 1960s blocks without laundries or parking can command at least $600,000.
Greig says it’s tougher to find houses under $500,000 as that is less than land value in most parts of The Shire – but there might be bargains in suburbs close to industrial areas like Taren Point or an outer area like Helensburgh or Engadine.

UNDER $1 MILLION

Greig says spending anything between $700,000 and $1 million will buy a “comfortable and modern family home, possibly with water views”.
“Buying for under $700,000 is becoming increasingly more difficult in the inner Shire suburbs,” he says.
“The land value of most properties today is $650,000 with the house worth just $50,000.
“It’s a big change from when I bought in 1968 – I paid $6000 for the block of land and double that to build a house on it.”
Greig says the growing real estate prices in The Shire are thanks to the under-development of the land during the 1960s when building costs were comparatively high and houses weren’t built to do justice to the surrounding environment.
“Take a look at Sylvania Waters which is a classic example of underdevelopment – back in the 1970s people put tiny cottages on these 1000 square metres of deep waterfront.

“Now, the older homes there sell for $1.5 million and people get the bulldozers in to build a nice new house on the water which suits the location.”
McGrath’s Matthew King says Bonnet Bay, Como and Kareela are the best buys for future growth in the under $1 million price bracket.
“$800,000 will buy you a great house with water views on Como or Bonnet Bay and there will be huge price growth there as those suburbs catch up to Kangaroo Point and Sylvania,” he says.
According to Noonan, the $700,000 to $1 million price point has the most turnover in The Shire with virtually all of the buying and selling done by owner occupiers.
“For over $700,000 you’ll get a nice house in South Caringbah, parts of Lilli Pilli and the middle parts of Cronulla between The Kingsway and the water – but you probably won’t get views in those suburbs for less than $1 million,” he says.

OVER $1 MILLION

Prestige property in The Shire is still cheaper than other areas of Sydney, with the record price for a house being $5 million.
“Once you’re spending more than a million, it’s all about how close you are to the water,” says Greig.
Penthouse apartments with beach views and waterfront homes are the bulk of the million-dollar-plus price point, with the primo position being on Gunnamatta Bay.
Bill Noonan says there are 3142 waterfront properties in The Shire, with about 75 per cent of them having deep water frontage and the rest being tidal waterfronts with sand, cliff or rocks.
“The eastern side of Gunnamatta Bay is the most prized and there are only about 60 houses on the bay altogether – the cheapest is the western side where you can pick things up in the early $3 million,” he says.
“The proximity of a waterfront to the ocean is the key to this price point – the cheaper waterfronts are in Oyster Bay and Bonnet Bay where you can pick something up for around $1.2 million to $1.5 million.”