Interesting and extensive post on the MacroBusiness forums from a reader worth a look (won't post in entirety here, but goes through a lot of data):
http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/for...igh-density-units-gain-only-5kpa-thread162.0/
Of course within that list there are both out performing suburbs and under performing, so I guess you could make the argument that if picked well some have done well, although I wonder how many Sydney unit buying FHBs spend a lot of time thinking about where the best growth is likely to be...
For anyone interested in the Sydney property market, some figures below explain why buying a median priced unit, near good public transport could have been a bit of a disappointment for anyone buying over the last 3 years.
If you are a potential first home buyer in Sydney (or even Melbourne/Brisbane), you are most likely looking at buying a unit, most likely an "affordable" one, often near the half million dollar mark. You're probably looking for good public transport if congestion is anything like it is here in Sydney (a s#*tfight!)
So you do what many people your age do. Look to buy in or around the area you are currently renting. Which is often an area with a large number of units, often a suburb on a main public transport line.
One example of such a suburb Dee Why on Sydneys northern beaches;
Since 2009 Dee Why has seen on average 565 unit sales each year. Its a Sydney suburb with one of the largest turnover of unit sales annually. This can be seen as a good or a bad thing! Its good when you are a first home buyer looking to buy, the number of units makes the area more affordable. Its a double edged sword however, and can be bad once you've purchased because, again, the number of units make it bad for price growth.
Statistically however, the high turnover in the number of units sold is a good thing, because Dee Why can give us a good idea of whats happening at the bottom of the property market in capital cities;
The Price finder website gives comprehensive data on residential property sale prices across australia. Its suburb flyover crunches the numbers of all these sales and offers an annual average and median price for each suburb. This gives us a reliable gauge of change in property values in each suburb, year to year.
For Dee Why, between 2009 and 2010 the median unit price jumped 8%. No doubt because of the notorious FHByers grant. But since then, price finder shows the median unit price in Dee Why has meandered back down around the 470k mark... Continues
http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/for...igh-density-units-gain-only-5kpa-thread162.0/
Of course within that list there are both out performing suburbs and under performing, so I guess you could make the argument that if picked well some have done well, although I wonder how many Sydney unit buying FHBs spend a lot of time thinking about where the best growth is likely to be...