Rising Coastal Suburb Prices Predicted

Coastal suburb house prices in Sydney and the Gold Coast are tipped to climb over the next two years, a new report shows.

Data calculated by Select Residential Property predicts a rise of up to 23.05% in southern Sydney suburb Gymea Bay and 21.6% in northern beaches suburb Warriewood.

Based on housing supply and data indicators — which indicates a want for larger properties, close to the water and further from the CBD as driving factors – the median house price in Gymea Bay is set to rise by $311,711 to 1,664, 359 and in Warriewood by $360,310 to $2,025,330.

In determining the price trajectory for a suburb, Select Residential Property research director Jeremy Sheppard takes into account 17 demand and supply metrics, including auction clearance rates, vacancy rates, discounting levels, days on market and the number of properties available to arrive at a ‘suburb score’.

“The list of areas with the highest growth potential all have high demand relative to supply and all scored well above 80, which are historically reflective of double-digit growth rates,” said Mr Sheppard.

Across the country, house values in the Gold Coast’s Elanora and Worongary are also expected to grow over the next 24 months, indicating a potential 22% each. Elsewhere, Melbourne’s Keilor Park and Diamond Creek are to see 10% and Adelaide’s Cumberland Park is forecast to grow by 20.6%.

Queensland’s Airlie Beach and South Townsville are expected to see unit value drop by 8.5% and 8% respectively. Similarly, the report predicts South Bunbury and Bunbury in Western Australia is staring down an 8.6% and 7% drop respectively.

For years, tech entrepreneur Asher Waldfogel and his wife, Helyn MacLean, dreamed of building a modern house in Palo Alto, Calif.

The couple, however, worried about clashing with the Mediterranean-style architecture typically associated with their neighborhood of Old Palo Alto.

So they tapped architect Steven Ehrlich to create a design that paid homage to its surroundings with stucco, mahogany and titanium zinc cladding. They spent $20 million over several years building the house, completed in 2005.

Designed for indoor-outdoor living, the house has matching mahogany paneling and limestone both inside and out. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

The dining room is between an outdoor garden and the staircase. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Now looking to be closer to their adult daughter on the East Coast, they are putting the five-bedroom home on the market for $44 million—the most expensive listing in Palo Alto.

Waldfogel is an angel investor who co-founded Redback Networks, a telecommunications-equipment company. MacLean previously had a career in fundraising.

The kitchen and family room open to the garden and pool. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Cast alcoves and mahogany shelves house the couple’s books and ceramics. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

The couple purchased the roughly 0.4-acre site for $7.1 million in 2000 and demolished a circa-1930s Spanish Colonial home. The house they built pinwheels around a central staircase. It has 7,900 square feet of livable space, with four distinct courtyards and a pool.

A key feature of the home is a cast-in-place concrete wall, or spine, that is two stories high and about 80 feet long. “There’s a little bit of controlled chaos in what comes out of the form,” unlike a perfectly uniform surface, Waldfogel said. “If you want that, you do it in plastic.”

Ehrlich said it took a few tries to get the concrete wall right. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

‘It’s a really hard material to tame,’ Ehrlich said of concrete. Workers learned as they went, and Waldfogel and Helyn grew to appreciate the imperfect material. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

A central staircase is housed in a glass tower. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Waldfogel said he and his wife are thinking about the next phase of life now that their daughter is grown, although they have not decided where they will move. They also have a home in Sun Valley, Idaho.

“Right now we’re just trying to emotionally let go and decide what to do next,” he said.

Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Two wings of the house are connected by horizontal planes. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Palo Alto, an epicenter of venture capital and tech startups in Silicon Valley, is home to some of the country’s biggest tech titans. Sales volume and prices are rising, with a median sale price of $3.5 million for the three months ending in August, up 5.8% year-over-year, according to real-estate brokerage Redfin.

Arthur Sharif of Sotheby’s International Realty—San Francisco Brokerage has the listing.

Rising Coastal Suburb Prices Predicted

Suburbs in Sydney are set for 23% growth in 24 months.

A five-bedroom Palo Alto home designed by Steven Ehrlich is listed for $44 million, making it the city’s most expensive listing. Built around a dramatic concrete spine, the home features four courtyards and a pool.