Jason Oppenheim: Sydney’s luxury homes double the price of LA’s, TV star says

Australia’s luxury home prices continued to rise in 2022, despite the rest of the property market falling by 15 per cent.

Eight of the nation’s top 10 sales were in Sydney, going for a combined total of $380 million, which was more per square metre than Los Angeles’ top properties, according to Netflix’s Selling Sunset star Jason Oppenheim.

Australia’s top sale of 2022 was in Vaucluse, which is the country’s most expensive suburb with a median price of $7.9 million, where a home was snapped up for $63 million.

Other top sales were a waterfront estate at Darling Point for $60 million, a federation mansion in Bellevue Hill for $52.5 million, a four-bedroom home in Mosman for $33 million and a slice of paradise at Palm Beach for $27.5 million.

US real estate TV star Oppenheim toured some of Sydney’s most luxurious homes and compared them to exclusive LA suburbs.

“This reminds me of something I might be selling in the Hollywood Hills,” Oppenheim said.

“In Beverly Hills, even in the nicest areas, we’re normally selling around $2000 per square foot, and this is like $4000 per square foot,” he said.

Sotheby’s Sydney managing director Michael Pallier explained why the luxury homes market was so strong.

“There are a lot of wealthy people and there’s only a small number of these houses,” Pallier said.

“I sold nearly $100 million of property this month in December so it’s actually really strong.”

Corelogic’s Tim Lawless said people buying in prestige markets tended to be less impacted by credit availability or interest rates.

Australia’s top 30 homes sold for more than $1 billion this year.