Sydney's 'crazy' housing market no mere craze

Sydney

OUTLANDISH property prices make daily headlines in Sydney - a peeling 1900s three-bedder with no kitchen sink for A$2.6 million (S$2.68 million), a parking space in Kirribili for A$120,000 - and first-time buyers have little prospect of relief.

Home price growth in the harbour city is well into the double digits, fed by record low interest rates, a rapidly rising population, chronic undersupply, a tax system that pampers property investors and a stream of Asian money.

There is a pick-up in building of new apartments, which have usurped houses in the mix as land gets more expensive, but long completion times and pent-up demand mean new buyers need not rush to pick their curtains.

Kerry Uys has wanted a house since she arrived from Britain with her husband and two children four years ago, but found prices beyond belief and Australia's system of on-site auctions "alien an…