Australian Prime Property Market Continues To Surge
After a steady year, even greater growth is predicted across cities in 2021.
By Terry Christodoulou
Wed, Feb 24, 2021 5:27am
2 min
2 min
Luxury residential price growth was consistent across Australia in 2020, but strongest in smaller cities, with greater growth forecast for 2021, according to the results of the Prime International Residential Index (PIRI 100) in the forthcoming edition of Knight Frank’s The Wealth Report 2021.
The PIRI 100, which tracks luxury residential prices across the world’s top 100 residential markets found five Australian cities – Perth, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne – were ranked in the top 65 for luxury residential market performance over the past year.
It’s smaller cities that shone in 2020, with Perth coming in as the top performer at number 24 with 3.6% annual growth, the Gold Coast following at 36 with 3.2% annual growth and Brisbane at 44 with 2.5% growth. Sydney and Melbourne both held up well in what was a tumultuous year for the global market, with the Harbour city coming in 56 (1.1%) and Melbourne 63 at (0.9%).
“In 2020, 29 per cent of locations saw prices decline year-on-year, up from 21 per cent in 2019, however, five markets also registered double-digit price growth in 2020, compared with just two the previous year,” said Knight Frank’s head of residential research Australia, Michelle Ciesielski.
“Australia’s luxury residential property market fared well, with three of the five cities included in the PIRI 100 recording growth greater than the global average, and in the case of Perth, nearly doubling it,” Ciesielski added.
The future of the prime market looks bright with the Knight Frank report forecasting luxury residential property prices in Perth, the Gold Coast and Sydney to rise by three per cent over 2021, while Brisbane is predicted for a two per cent rise and Melbourne to grow at a slower one per cent.
The forecast comes off the back of demand for luxury property in Australia continuing to be strong, boosted by the ongoing pandemic and the continuing return of expats.
“Property prices in Perth are coming off the back of several years of price decline, but recently population growth has improved with prospering mining activity and resilient commodity prices, and this has led to a strong rebound in the residential market,” said Shayne Harris, national head of residential, Knight Frank.
“In Sydney, it’s the super-prime property market – those sales exceeding $10 million – which is driving up the overall prime performance as we see our ultra-wealthy clients upgrading the family’s main residence and buying new holiday homes as international travel is likely to remain subdued in the coming years.”
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A vibrant 1954 Palm Springs home featuring eight colorful murals by late artist Shawn Savage is on the market for $2.295 million. The 2,237-square-foot property features bold hot-pink doors, three bedrooms, a pool, mountain views and playful interiors blending modern glamour with classic Palm Springs style.
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A bold 1950s home in Palm Springs, California, adorned with eight colorful murals by the late artist Shawn Savage, is coming to market ahead of the city’s annual Modernism Week.
The white stucco home on El Camino Way, built in 1954 and recently renovated, has an asking price of $2.295 million. Its staggered facade features three playfully abstract murals on either side of double-height hot pink doors.
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The sellers are Los Angeles-based partners John Freeman and Mathieu Faure, who knew it was “the one” when they saw it after several months of searching in the winter of 2023. “It’s a happy house,” Freeman said. “We really liked the feel of the house: the uniqueness, the openness, the brightness—and the art.”
Located in the Mesa neighborhood of Palm Springs, which backs up to the San Jacinto Mountains, the 2,237-square-foot house features three bedrooms, an angled bonus room and a yard with a pool, desert mountain views and another colorful mural running alongside the pool.
“I never thought in my life I would have a house with pink doors,” said Faure, a producer at Apple TV who is originally from Paris. “It’s so colorful, it’s so different. And so Palm Springs.”
The layout of the home creates a smooth flow from the front doors through the open-plan common area—a foyer, bar, and living and dining room—into the kitchen around a fireplace wall and out to the yard. A corridor leads to a private bedroom wing, where the primary suite has floor-to-ceiling windows and the primary bath is only a tad smaller than the bedroom.
Faure has filled the home with Jonathan Adler furniture, rugs and accessories, riffing on the energetic California vibes of the house to create an aesthetic of “modern American glamour,” he said.
“It was enjoyable for me to play with different types of furniture and make this house ‘happy chic,’ as I describe it,” he said.
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“He did a fantastic job,” said Freeman, who is an attorney and consultant. “It does kind of bring a smile to my face whenever I walk into the house.”
Since the furniture and decor were chosen for the particularities of the space, the couple is open to selling them with the home. Their West Hollywood house is already furnished; the collection doesn’t match the vibes of a Houston loft they bought near family; and Faure can’t imagine these pieces in New York—where he’s lived in the past—he said.
The duo bought the Palm Springs house for $1.925 million in 2024, according to property records, and will list the home Monday. They are represented by Stewart Smith, Patrick Jordan and Kevin Stanley of Bennion Deville Homes/Luxury Portfolio International.
The previous owners had purchased the home in 2021 for $975,000 and then spent more than two years and $700,000 on the renovation, according to Realtor.com. They commissioned Savage, a local Palm Springs artist and painter known for his joyful abstract work, to decorate the home.
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Savage, who died in 2024, lived in the Coachella Valley from 2003, and his work can be found in various local institutions and is on exhibit at the Illumine Gallery in Palm Springs. “Some artists pass through a place. Shawn Savage became a part of it,” the gallery’s description states.
Unsurprisingly, the murals invite lots of friendly conversations, as well as guided tours and interested lookers, but never to a degree that it disturbed the peacefulness of their home or the neighborhood, the sellers said. “It felt like living in an art gallery, and you have the exterior that you would share with the world,” Faure explained.
The neighborhood also played a role in their decision to buy, because of its access to the hiking trails of the San Jacinto Mountains, the lack of through-roads and the neighborly environment.
“It’s a very friendly place,” Faure said.
