Sydney's most iconic House soars in value as home prices are plunging

Sydney

THE Sydney Opera House's price tag has been put at A$6.2 billion (S$6.16 billion), jumping by more than a third in just five years.

That's Deloitte Access Economics's new estimate of the building's so-called social value, which seeks to quantify a range of benefits from economic return to cultural and iconic status. The upbeat report paints a very different picture to the city's residential property market, where prices are dropping at the fastest rate since the global financial crisis.

"The Opera House is Australia's premier cultural institution and tourism destination," Deloitte said in its 'Revaluing Our Icon' report Thursday. "It is inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage List as a masterpiece of human creative genius and a world-class performing arts centre."

Indeed, the property is in a somewhat different league to other Sydney real estate. It spurred just under A$1 billion in tourism expenditure in fiscal 2017 and is estimated to support more than 8,000 full-time equivalent jobs, Deloitte found.

Danish architect Joern Utzon's design for the building was selected in 1957 after a worldwide competition. It includes five halls with some 5,500 combined seats.

It still remains Australia's No. 1 tourist destination, attracting 10.9 million visitors - including 2.9 million from overseas - in fiscal 2017, which is up 46 per cent since 2013, Deloitte said.

Deloitte surveyed 3,000 Australians and 500 international tourists from the United States, China, the United Kingdom and New Zealand for the report, which was commissioned to mark the 45th anniversary of the building's opening. BLOOMBERG