The National Australia Bank has joined other property analysts who are predicting moderate growth for Sydney in 2014. But according to its quarterly survey there are a handful of suburbs that will far outpace the rest.
Based on the questionnaire responses of 290 property professionals – a mix of agents, developers, fund managers and investors – the inner city suburbs of Darlinghurst, Surry Hills, and Potts Point are likely to experience significant growth in 2014. But the NAB chief group economist, Alan Oster, said it wasn’t necessarily investors who would drive the activity.
“Owner-occupiers continue to dominate the established housing market, driven by upgraders, and we expect this trend to continue over the next two years,’’ he said.
In the inner west Dulwich Hill and Marrickville were also listed as having high growth potential, as was Rosebery in the east and Penrith, Blacktown and Liverpool in the west.
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NAB has predicted property price growth of 6 per cent for Sydney in 2014 and 5.1 per cent in 2015.
Mr Oster described the bank’s forecast for this year as ‘‘bullish’’ compared with the prediction of Sydney’s property professionals. The average growth prediction of those surveyed was just 3 per cent for Sydney in 2014 and 3.4 per cent in 2015.
As well as low interest rates and a lack of supply, Mr Oster singled out foreign buyers as a key driver of price growth in the Sydney market this year.
‘‘There is no hard data about how much is being purchased by foreigners, which is mainly Asian, but we know that they are quite a size of the market in relation to new apartments,’’ he said.
‘‘There is a shift out of China as they crack down on investment in housing and they move in to some of the safer areas around the world.’’
‘‘There is sort of an extra demand factor there.’’
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