RECORD PROPERTY YEAR

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 16, 19 January 1924, Page 13

RECORD PROPERTY YEAR

The real estate transactions in Sydney for the year involving a sum of no less than £10,000,000, mark the year as one of the most "prosperous on record. It was better in some respects than even the record of 1920. The general buoyancy of the property market throughout the year told its own prosperous story. New buildings alone erected in the metropolitan area within the twelve months amount in assessed value to well over £10,000,000. A feature of the market during the year was the money invested in city properties. Eecords for city prices were established. As much as £2225, for example, was paid-per foot for land in George street, and a site in Castlereagh street, near the Hotel Australia, brought £1577 per, foot. Not even in the land boom period of the late 'eighties and early I'nineties, when ridiculous prices ruled, have values been so high. City sites are becoming more difficult to obtain each year, bo it is likely that still higher prices will have to be paid in the near future. And they will be cheerfully paid, because of the advent of the city railway. Already, in anticipation of the railway, and especially round Circular^ quay, streets that were formerly as quiet almost as the grave have become bright business and shopping areas. What were blank walls are now well-appointed shops. The larger residential properties in tho more aristocratfc part of the eastern suburbs, such as Darling Point, Potts Point, Elizabeth Bay, Edgecliffo, and Bellevue, have been in eager demand. Prices here for homes have ranged from £9000 to £21,000. There has also been a big demand for\home sites in the suburbs within easy call of the city. With the city railway" and the much-needed extension of suburban railway services, Sydney, and the metropolitan area will' undergo extraordinary changes within the next decade.