Green Is Good: Prices Higher in Sydney’s Leafy Suburbs
New data suggests a correlation between greenspace and housing prices.
By Terry Christodoulou
Fri, Apr 23, 2021 2:30pm
2 min
2 min
Sometimes the grass is, in fact, greener.
The value of parks, trees and backyards is bolstering property prices in a number of “green suburbs” in Sydney according to data from Corelogic.
It comes as the post-COVID-19 world shifts towards a renewed focus on healthy, urban living with many cities nationally increasing parkland, cycle lanes and more.
Greenspace refers to public or private land that is completely or partly covered with grass, trees, shrubs or other vegetation. In Sydney, that looks like parks, community gardens, cemeteries, school yards, playground and vacant lots.
New findings from Corelogic suggest that there has been a direct increase in housing value premiums in suburbs across Sydney where the average of green or open space is higher.
Highest proportion of public greenspace
| Average house sale price 2019 | Average unit sale price 2019 | Average % public greenspace | |
| Heathcote – Waterfall | $912,937 | $622,500 | 80.50% |
| Berowra – Brooklyn – Cowan | $1,007,297 | $738,500 | 78.10% |
| Terrey Hills – Duffys Forest | $2,185,206 | $585,000 | 75.00% |
| Asquith – mount Colah | $1,065,767 | $660,995 | 66.30% |
| Menai – Lucas Heights – Woronora | $998,368 | $738,072 | 64.10% |
| Bayview – Elanora Heights | $1,871,173 | $1,718,333 | 57.80% |
| Woronora Heights | $1,095,702 | $976,250 | 57.40% |
| Turramurra | $1,924,818 | $993,229 | 57.00% |
| Helensburgh | $941,500 | $726,368 | 56.20% |
| Manly Vale – Allamie Heights | $1,795,322 | $722,182 | 52.70% |
^Source: Corelogic
“Our case study has revealed a positive correlation between housing values and greenspace,” Corelogic head of research Tim Lawless said.
“As Australia’s climate change strategies and domestic policy evolve over the years ahead, the market’s readiness to value ‘greenness’ as a tangible property feature may strengthen.”
“In areas where greenspace was scarce, such as the Eastern Suburbs and Inner City, private greenspace had a far stronger relationship with price,” Lawless added.
However, when compared to European cities, the correlation between greenspace and housing prices was low due to Sydney’s larger volume of greenspace.
For example, Sydney currently has 46% public greenspace while Amsterdam has 13% and London 33%.
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The imposing stone structures, with towers, turrets and a hot tub room, lord over the landscape near the mountain resort town of Sandpoint.
By Liz Lucking
Mon, Jul 13, 2026 2 min
2 min
Idaho is not a place that’s often associated with Medieval castles, but a pair have just hit the market for $6.25 million.
The imposing stone structures have towers, turrets, ramparts, arrow-slit windows and even a drawbridge, and might just be the most authentic-looking castles this side of the Atlantic.
“Who expects to see a castle like this in Idaho?” said listing agent Brenda Burk of Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty, who brought the property to the market last week. They are, she said, “extremely unusual.”
Schweitzer Castle and Château de Melusine, as they’re known, stand within Schweitzer Mountain Resort in the Selkirk Mountains and overlook the nearby mountain resort town of Sandpoint. They take in panoramic views of Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho’s largest lake.
The pair of ski-in/ski-out homes each have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and three stories, Burk explained. They are “so authentic,” she said. “Every single stone was handlaid.”
Schweitzer Castle, she said, wasn’t built for “functionality,” but has been modernized and adapted and now has everything a 21st-century residence requires, along with a dungeon, which for some buyers may also be a requisite.
The chateau, meanwhile, has a hot tub room with mountain views, as well as a garage.
The property is being sold furnished, and will come complete with the hand-carved statues, armor, mounted swords, stained-glass windows and a host of antiques dating to the 15th and 16th centuries.
The owner, an antique collector who couldn’t be reached for comment, “is always looking for that hidden jewel and he found that here,” Burk said.
The next custodian is likely to stem from a varied pool of buyers, Burk said, that would include “the trophy-home buyer, someone who can say ‘I own a castle.’”
The property could also appeal to someone looking for a vacation home, or a multi-generational estate, and beyond that “there’s the dreamers,” she said. “We definitely try to market to people who like Medieval history or maybe do Renaissance fairs.”
The seller “really wants it to go to someone with the same passion.”
