Prestige Property Sydney | 2026 Luxury Market Insights & Top Suburbs

hotspotting.com.au and propertyU

Sydney is the quintessential centre of activity when discussing Australia’s prestige property market. It’s certainly no secret that suburbs such as Vaucluse, Point Piper, and Bellevue Hills feature some of the country’s most exclusive homes. As for the sales prices in these suburbs, while Ray White advises that Sydney’s luxury market now begins at $4 million, in reality, this figure is just the tip of the prestige iceberg.

Prestige property Sydney sales are now pushing into the tens of millions, with 2025 attracting new benchmarks for the city’s premium sector. The city can now boast 17 of Australia’s top 20 residential sales for 2025, with these sales totalling $1.1 billion.

These sales are particularly notable as the prestige sector experienced some softness last year. Herron Todd White (HTW)’s November Month In Review noted that days on market slightly increased and sales volumes dropped a little, while price growth moderated compared to the post-COVID boom. But a low supply of ultra-signature properties continued to strengthen competition, and it was largely this competition that kept this market strong.

The demand for high-end homes continued to rise, backed by their lifestyle appeal and buyers’ excellent underlying wealth. So too did buyers’ appetite for large-scale renovations and new builds. Propertybuyer’s eastern Sydney specialist, Munro Donen, helped me examine several key sales in the city’s luxurious top end and made some interesting observations on this special sector. We agreed that even if conditions continue to soften this year, a low supply would support values.

Sydney’s prestige buyers

Westpac’s 2025 Prestige Property Report highlighted that Australia’s prestige buyers are generally more concerned with global, rather than domestic, issues such as interest rate changes. Of more importance to the premium crowd are equity markets, bonuses, offshore capital flows, and currency shifts. These issues, along with traditional legacy wealth and global business strength, are why most premium buyers can depend on cash, rather than a mortgage, to buy property.

Sydney’s prestige buyers also include local upsizers, downsizers, expats, and international high-net-worth individuals.

Sydney’s 2025 prestige performance

Despite a softening market, plenty of suburbs enjoyed a solid year in 2025, with most expected to do so again in 2026.

Last year’s top-performing premium locations included Rose Bay, Queens Park, Bondi, Coogee, Bronte, Double Bay, Paddington, Bondi Beach, Randwick, and Clovelly. Turnkey family homes, waterfront trophy properties, luxury downsizer apartments, quality development and amalgamation sites, and renovated, terrace and semi-detached properties in these suburbs also all proved highly popular.

These suburbs included some of Sydney’s top sales for 2025, while Australia’s highest residential sale on record was finalised in July with the completion of one ultra-luxury project. The multi-millionaire Millennial buyer of the Barangaroo South double-storey penthouse, with an adjacent sub-penthouse below, stole a march on the rest of the country when he

picked up the two properties in a $141.55 million cash sale in 2019. He’s now the proud owner of the finished apartment. Turning to actual negotiated in 2025 and Sydney saw 14 Tivoli Avenue at Rose Bay sold for an unconfirmed price of around $82.5 million in October. The eight-bedroom harbourside on 1138 square metres comprises three separate residences with eight bedrooms and 10 bathrooms in total plus a four-car garage. Vaucluse of course gets a mention with a waterfront mansion at 11 Coolong Road fetching a circa $60 million sale in September. Held by one family for almost 55 years, the five-bedroom mansion on a 1663 square metre parcel features an indoor lap pool plus an oceanfront pool with a private jetty. Entry to the property is via a circular driveway with a porte-cochere.

11 Coolong Road, Vaucluse (source: realestate.com.au)

In another record price, Darlinghurst, 2 Darley Street was only listed for 12 days before it sold in September for $37.5 million. The son of Channel 7 chairman, Kerry Stokes is believed to have bought Iona, a seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom Italian manor on a 2,716 square block and the former home of Baz Luhrman.

2 Darley Street, Darlinghurst (source: realestate.com.au)

And for absolute beachfront living, and yet another extraordinary price, 17 Taloombi Street in Cronulla broke the Sutherland Shire and St George region house record in April with a $22.5 million sale. Set almost on the sand of Gunnamatta Bay, this bespoke residence offers its buyers an infinity pool, bayfront terrace, custom-designed boathouse, steam room, and bar. There’s also a home theatre with a cinema lounge and a fully-equipped gym.

17 Taloombi Street, Cronulla (source: Domain)

The 2026 outlook

We expect to see strong, if not very strong, prestige performance in Sydney this year, with four to seven per cent price growth anticipated across the city’s prime suburbs. A chronic undersupply of premium opportunities, as well as high local wealth, will help drive this strength. Well-located renovated homes are likely to be especially popular, thanks to a selective demand for such properties.

But Munro believes that even if prestige conditions continue to soften in 2026, the sector’s low supply will still support values. And, stable financial markets, low unemployment rates, and potential interest rate reductions could boost overall confidence.

Family-oriented suburbs with a scarcity of freestanding homes would likely lead prestige gains, and for the same reason, trophy-home belts are also likely to remain strong. Honing in on specific suburbs, the most probable over-achievers this year will be the family hubs of Bondi, Bronte, Coogee, Maroubra, Queens Park, and Randwick, along with traditionally prestige, harbourside locations such as Rose Bay, Double Bay, Bellevue Hill, Vaucluse, Darling Point, and Point Piper. Also expected to exceed for their character and village market ambience are Paddington, Woollahra, and Edgecliff.

Sydney’s prestige sector is rarefied air with all the exclusivity of a VIP room at a post-Oscars party. Gaining entry into this space requires more than just a cursory glance at expensive listings on an online portal. Instead, you must work with a well-connected, experienced, and highly respected team like ours at Propertybuyer. We’ve spent decades building both our credentials and networks to ensure our premium buyers get to Sydney’s best properties well before anyone knows they’re available for purchase.

If you’re keen to explore premium options in Sydney, reach out to our team. We are your best path to securing your prestige home.

  To have one of the friendly Propertybuyer  Buyers' Agents  to contact you:

   or

call us on 1300 655 615 today.