Elanora finally in the spotlight

The suburb’s house price record has been smashed as buyers pushed out of Palmy eye value

TWO big sales have led to house price records being smashed in two suburbs last week – Elanora and Palm Beach. While seemingly unrelated, the two events may be more connected than one may think.

In Palm Beach, an interstate buyer stumped up a whopping $6.1 million for a relatively modest beachfront home at 135 Jefferson Lane, or Millionaire’s Row.

Owned by the one family since 1978, the house trumped the $6 million paid not long ago for Foreign Minister Peter Dutton’s home at No. 109 Jefferson Lane.

It is the latest in a long line of multimillion-dollar house and unit sales in Palmy, which has pushed the median house price in the suburb from $900,000 in June 2020 to more than $1 million 12 months on, according to REA statistics.

Units, buoyed by a bevy of boutique developments set to be built in the suburb to coincide with the arrival of the light rail, have also risen from a median of $504,000 to more than $687,000.

Property price growth of more than 30 per cent has been registered over the past 12 months, with the high sums being paid attracting headlines such as ‘barmy Palmy’. And therein lies the connection. It is the ‘barmy’ prices that are pushing buyers out of the suburb into neighbouring areas, such as more affordable Elanora.

While the record-breaking $1.65 million price achieved for the family home at 13 Kentia Court last week is modest when compared with the one at Palm Beach, it is a hefty price for a home in the inland suburb, where the median price is $840,000 and $439,500 for units.

Selling agent Billy Jazz of McGrath said he had several offers on the property, with the winning bid being markedly higher than the rest prompting the owners to take it off the market ahead of auction.

Mr Jazz said many buyers were looking in Elanora because they were being priced out of neighbouring Palm Beach.

Local agent Mark Stafford of Ray White said the suburb was attractive for its price point and eclectic mix of properties, which ranged from waterfront homes to acreage within close proximity to the beach.

An acreage property at 4 Evergreen Drive sold at auction for $1.5 million through Lea Pettett and Talei Kelly of LJ Hooker.

“There’s plenty of room for growth because until now the suburb has fallen in the shadow of Palm Beach, yet few realise just how unique Elanora is,” Mr Stafford said.

“It has been undervalued for years, but that’s rapidly changing.”

Those looking to move should act fast as prices are continuing to rise. A record could again be broken if the five-bedroom house on a half hectare at 4-6 Mavista Grove, listed with Mr Jazz, achieves its $1.69 million price.

13 Kentia Court, Elanora, sold for a suburb record of $1.65million last week through McGrath.