“I wanted to find a bigger home for the family but didn’t want to go too far from Chatswood,” Cao said. “We wanted somewhere close to transportation,a nice reputation and a good neighbourhood.”
Cathy Cao with her son Jaclyn Yang at her home in Roseville.Dion Georgopoulos
She felt the suburb is often overlooked,as she had done before her home popped up at the last minute. She had spent about six months looking to upgrade in more popular,expensive nearby neighbourhoods such as Killara,Lindfield and Roseville.
“Roseville Chase was the perfect choice. The area has always been neglected and people forget to keep their eyes out for Roseville Chase,” said Cao,who is also a real estate agent. “This suburb ticks all the boxes and the price is very friendly compared to Lindfield and Roseville.”
Her neighbours have all happily lived in their homes for 25 years or more,and she plans to stay for the long run.
“Everyday I still go to Chatswood,but I really enjoy my journey back to Roseville Chase … this is a hidden,beautiful area in the upper north shore because it’s very easy to be ignored,” she said. “But once you step in it’s the place you want to stay here.”
Cathy Cao,with her dog Bailey,had overlooked Roseville Chase when she spent six months looking to upgrade.Dion Georgopoulos.
Cao is one of the few new homeowners in the suburb as only two per cent of properties changed hands in Roseville Chase in 2023 on CoreLogic data.
That’s less than half of the Sydney-wide turnover rate of properties of 4.6 per cent recorded last year.
Bidwill topped the list for the lowest turnover across Sydney with just 1.2 per cent of properties changing hands.
Other suburbs that recorded some of the lowest turnover included Millers Point (2 per cent),Brighton-Le-Sands (2.3 per cent),Narraweena (2.4 per cent) and Lavender Bay (2.4 per cent).
CoreLogic’s research principal Eliza Owen said low turnover rates point to sought-after suburbs where homes were tightly held.
“The low turnover rate can be a function of a few different things. Exclusivity and desirability is one,” she said.
Suburbs with the lowest turnover rates overlapped with some of the city’s longest hold periods,Owen said,including Bonnyrigg Heights and Millers Point. Homeowners there held onto their properties for a median of 18.7 years and 15 years,respectively,in the year to March 2024. Both postcodes had a turnover rate of 2 per cent or lower in 2023.
Castle Cove and Davidson had the longest median hold periods of 21.3 years.
Owen said many young families bought into these suburbs decades ago and seldom downsize even when they become empty-nesters.
While these highly sought-after but hard to get into suburbs are desirable among buyers,it also points to the misallocation of housing,Owen said.
“A young family probably doesn’t need to be in a four-bedroom house for 20 years and if they are,it could be a symptom that there isn’t enough housing for older people to downsize into or the older kids can’t move out to buy their own home.”
She said other suburbs have long hold periods due to an element of speculation.
“If you have infrastructure projects,but they’re slow moving it can contribute to landowners holding on to properties for long periods of time if the land can be subdivided.”
Ray White Upper North Shore’s Jessica Cao,no relation to Cathy,said Roseville Chase is a popular suburb among buyers due to its lower profile yet similar proximity to amenities that it shares with its neighbours.
“Everybody loves how it’s tucked away. It’s very quiet,it’s unknown. It’s cheaper than Roseville,Killara or Lindfield because those suburbs are along the train line,but still very convenient to get to from Roseville Chase,” Cao said.
She said the majority of her Roseville Chase sellers were downsizing or deceased estates.
Meanwhile,Bidwill had the city’s lowest turnover rate because it shares a similar suburb profile to Roseville Chase but in Western Sydney.
“It’s a small suburb and where it’s positioned you can go from Bidwill to North Sydney in 45 minutes because the M7 connects you to the M2,” said Peter Diamantidis of Ray White Diamantidis Group.
He said while many of the sellers are also downsizers,who often make a sea change to Queensland,most of the buyers are first timers.
“Eight out of 10 were first home buyers. It’s more to do with affordability. If you go less than 3 kilometres into Marsden Park,which is a hot suburb,you can’t buy a home under $1 million,” Diamantidis said.
He said Bidwill blocks of up to 600 square metres sell between $650,000 to $750,000.