Living among the trees in the hippest part of the city
There’s more to this suburb than brick pits and freeways
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It’s a part of Sydney that is often overlooked but the unassuming suburb of St Peters in the inner west has a lot to offer the discerning buyer.
Once better known for its brick chimneys than its beautiful locale, it is now coming into its own as people looking for a little creative culture get priced out of nearby neighbourhoods such as Marrickville and Newtown.
So in an area where land and green space is scarce, it’s hard to pass up a property like 2 Crown Street. Offering four bedrooms and two bathrooms over two levels, the home backs onto the best park in the suburb, Sydney Park.
Surrounded by tree canopies, there’s a sense of living in the treetops, which is further enhanced by the easy flow between indoor and outdoor spaces.
While the integrated stone kitchen overlooks the open plan living area bathed in north easterly natural light, it’s the master bedroom on the upper floor that’s the showstopper, with bifold doors that retract entirely to lead onto an enclosed terrace amongst the trees.
Surrounded by primary and secondary schools, this is an ideal family home located within easy walking distance of St Peters Station and the burgeoning restaurant district of south King Street. A spacious double garage with ample storage is fittingly embellished with landscaping.
Address: 2 Crown Street, St Peters
Auction: 10.30am, March 25, 2023
Price Guide: $2.1 million
Agent: Brad Gillespie, Property Partner, The Agency, bradg@theagency.com.au 0418 448 295
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The US housing market remains under pressure as high mortgage rates continue to weigh on affordability and demand. Industry leaders say 2026 has been one of the toughest years for home sales, with slower price growth, weaker mortgage activity, and fewer buyers entering the market. However, experts say reduced competition and more price cuts could create opportunities for well-prepared buyers.
2 min
The typically busy spring season for the housing market was a dud, and the summer isn’t looking much brighter.
Housing services companies like Zillow Group and Rocket RKT +3.78% were loud and clear last week on earnings calls: Rocket CEO Varun Krishna called the quarter through June “one of the toughest spring housing markets in years.”
Jeremy Hofmann, Zillow’s chief financial officer, said on a conference call that the company predicted earlier this year that the market for mortgages would be flat. “We actually now think it’s going to be down low-to-mid-single digits,” he said.
The rest of 2026 will remain challenging for mortgage origination volume, says KBW analyst Bose George. The question now is what happens in 2027. “If mortgage rates remain [around] 6.75%, I think that’s going to be challenging even for next year,” he says.
But what’s bad news for mortgage companies could be a positive for bargain hunters. Buyers can expect prices to grow more slowly—or mildly decline—with less competition as long as mortgage rates remain unpredictable.
Mortgage rates at the beginning of the year were solidly below year-ago levels, notes Zillow senior economist Kara Ng. But they surpassed last year’s levels recently, she adds, referencing Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of 30-year fixed mortgage rates. Last week’s reading, at 6.69%, was higher than year-ago levels for the first time in 2026.
“From the affordability point of view, it’s going to get more challenging in the second half of the year,” she says. “And when affordability gets more challenging, that impacts sales and home price appreciation.”
Mortgage application data tracked by the Mortgage Bankers Association has cooled since the beginning of the year. The trade group expects that the number of mortgage originations in the remaining two quarters will lag behind last year’s levels, after exceeding 2025 levels in the first half.
Rocket’s early-stage data—which the company told Barron’s it derives from its brokerage Redfin, demand for its mortgage products, and signs in its servicing portfolio that a homeowner is preparing to refinance or move—“leads us to expect the third quarter mortgage market to be smaller than the second,” Chief Financial Officer Brian Brown, said on the company’s call. He added that such an occurrence is “something the industry has not seen since 2022.”
Prices will be about flat nationally, Ng says. Zillow’s most recent forecast, which shows how values are expected to change in the year ending June 2027, show them dropping in roughly half of the 100 largest U.S. metros for which data is available.
Buyers aren’t rushing in at a time when mortgage costs are rising and unpredictable. But those with the right combination of patience and cash could stand to benefit. “If you are financially qualified to buy a starter home, you are facing less competition and you’re more likely to get a price cut,” Ng says.
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