The Sydney suburbs tipped to bounce back first

Sydney buyer’s agent Nick Viner identified Glebe, Redfern, Lane Cove, North Bondi and Leichhardt as beacon suburbs that would be the first ones to herald Sydney’s bounce back in the market.

Yet despite their declines in the current market, these suburbs have median prices that range between $1.3 million and $2.4 million.

If investors want to find similarly influential suburbs for a slightly more affordable price, there are alternatives:

Forest Lodge as an alternative to Glebe

Offering a median house press less than Glebe, Forest Lodge is an often-overlooked suburb due to its small size.

“A lot of people haven't even heard about it, so if they're looking for property in neighbouring Glebe, for example, they just might forget to look there,” Mr Viner said

“It is generally a bit cheaper than Glebe.”

“The thing about Forest Lodge is that it probably has a higher collection of really small two-bedroom cottages. So if you're starting out, I mean you'd need to have a budget in the early $1 millions and I mean, obviously, it depends if the buyer's got that sort of money.”

Darlington as an alternative to Redfern

If what Mr Viner labelled as “the city’s most exciting” address is slightly out of reach for investors, he suggested they look to Darlington, another overlooked suburb.

“It's probably not always cheaper, but in saying that, if people are looking at, like Redfern East down by Surry Hills, then they will find Darlington significantly cheaper,” Mr Viner said.

Its close proximity to the University of Sydney also means that there is constant demand for rental properties.

Lane Cove North, Lane Cove West and southwestern Chatswood as an alternative to Lane Cove

These two suburbs provide investors with the opportunity for better value than Lane Cove, according to Mr Viner, as long as they are prepared to go closer to Epping Road.

Bordering the Lane Cove North area is the south-west quadrant of Chatswood, which can offer sizeable blocks of land up to 900 square metres of land.

“You wouldn't get that closer to Chatswood or on the eastern side of Chatswood. And the reason being is it's a little bit more remote, it's a bit more tucked away, but a lot of people like that, they like to be away from all the action and the hustle and bustle,” Mr Viner said.

South Coogee as an alternative to North Bondi

While being the only suburb not to neighbour another suburb on this list, South Coogee is eight kilometres away from the median house prices of $2.4 million in North Bondi, along with the pricey suburbs of Bondi, Vacluse, Watsons Bay and Dover Heights.

“You're not going to find anything cheaper there, whatsoever — you're going to have to go further afield. But if you want that beachy vibe and feel, then you're going to have to go south if you want to get better value for money,” he said.

“You might have to go to Maroubra and Malabar, places like that, but if you don't want to go quite that far, you might want look at South Coogee, because the prices are cheaper than Coogee, it's very close to Coogee and it just sounds that much better than Maroubra.”

Petersham and Haberfield as an alternative to Leichhardt

Mr Viner suggested Petersham as a more affordable alternative to Leichhardt, although admitting there was not too much of a price difference between the two.

“If you're keen on Leichhardt and you like that vibe but you can't find what you're looking for in Leichhardt, then go to Petersham. And sometimes, I found that Petersham can be slightly cheaper depending on what you're looking for,” he said.

Haberfield was also suggested as an alternative that can achieve “more bang for your buck”, but in relative terms.

“The median house price in Haberfield is significantly higher, it's closer to $2 [million], but that's because the housing stock in Haberfield is predominately big federation free standing, four-bedroom family homes,” Mr Viner said.

“If you took one of those properties that sells for the median in Haberfield and you planted it in Leichhardt or Petersham, it would be significantly more, because the land value's more expensive, you're going the next suburbs over into the CBD.

“So the point there is if you're possibly looking for one of those bigger style homes, and you're looking in Leichhardt and Petersham and you're not finding what you're after, and they're going to be smaller there generally anyway, well, maybe think about going to Haberfield.”