PHOTO: It is the place to be. Sam Burgess model Jessica Vander – OLTNEWS

Sydney is simultaneously one of the bleakest and most attractive places in the world to buy a house. Why? It’s desirable, with many of its suburbs providing a lifestyle not many urban centres on the globe can claim. It’s also expensive, however, and for many years has been the priciest place to buy a house in Australia (even though there have been moments here and there where it has been temporarily edged out).

It has just been dethroned by Byron Bay though – an Instagram Hippie paradise some 8 hours drive north.

That’s according to realestate.com.au. As the publication reported this morning: “Byron Bay has vaulted above Sydney to become the nation’s most expensive major housing market after prices nearly doubled in just one year.”

The median price in Byron Bay was about $1.42 million last year, realestate.com.au claims, but has since jumped to $2.7 million.

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