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Sydney continues to top the list as Australia’s most expensive housing market—and one of the priciest in the world—beating out global giants like New York and Paris. As of December 2023, the median house price in Sydney hit $1,595,310, underscoring the city’s sustained real estate demand and limited housing supply.
According to the 2021 Census, Sydney had 1.83 million dwellings, with detached houses making up 54% (about 900,000 homes), units and apartments comprising 33%, and semi-detached or terrace houses accounting for the remaining 13%. While detached homes dominate the outer suburbs, inner-city areas are filled with historic terrace houses, especially in suburbs like Paddington, The Rocks, Potts Point, and Balmain. Once home to laborers and miners, many of these heritage terraces have been gentrified into multi-million-dollar residences.
Public housing remains a critical component of the city’s residential framework, particularly in suburbs like Claymore, Macquarie Fields, Waterloo, and Mount Druitt, where affordable housing is primarily administered by the NSW Government.
Sydney’s architecture reveals its colonial roots and post-Federation growth. Suburbs like Double Bay, Rose Bay, and Strathfield host sprawling Victorian-era mansions, while Federation homes, built around 1901, are commonly found in railway-accessible suburbs like Penshurst and Turramurra. Styles such as workers' cottages in Redfern and Surry Hills, California bungalows in Ashfield and Concord, and modern estates in western suburbs like Kellyville Ridge and Oran Park highlight Sydney’s housing diversity and evolution.
With environmental and economic concerns driving urban planning, Sydney has seen a notable 30% rise in apartment living between 1996 and 2006. This shift toward denser housing continues, especially around transit hubs and urban growth corridors.
Sydney’s housing landscape, deeply shaped by historical development and modern pressures, represents a complex intersection of cultural heritage, affordability challenges, and urban transformation—a city where Victorian-era charm meets twenty-first-century expansion.