Neighbourhood Notes: Unley, Adelaide’s Leafy, Historic Suburb

As one of the country’s most affordable capital cities, Adelaide’s prestige market is unlike that of its more populous and expensive neighbours, Melbourne and Sydney.

Revered for its safety and envied for its livability, it’s a city that has thrived in the past 12 months, as fears of a fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic hit the residential property market.

In particular, Adelaide’s prestige pockets, small as they are, continue to attract buyers as locals, interstate and international buyers, flock to lifestyle properties and quality homes in blue-chip locations.

The city’s best-performing market in 2020 was the City of Unley, encompassing the prestigious inner-city suburbs of Unley Park, Malvern, Hyde Park, Unley and Wayville. The performance of these areas confirmed its long-held position as one of Adelaide’s most expensive residential areas.

It’s been 150 years since the formation of the City of Unley, once a collection of small villages sitting on the southern boundary of Adelaide’s central business district.

Land was used mainly for farming, orchards, grazing and dairy before expansion began in the 1870s into the early 1900s. The improved access and establishment of new villages doubled the population from 11,000 in 1891 to about 22,000 in 1906.

Significant development occurred during the early 1900s and the area was almost completely subdivided by the end of the 1920s, with the population fluctuating in the following years. It’s remained stable at 39,000 for the past decade, with slight increases only due to a growth in medium density houses, as large blocks and planning permission has allowed for luxurious and modern townhomes.

Collectively, median house prices in the Unley local government area increased almost 19% in the year to December 2020, according to the Real Estate Institute of South Australia (REISA).

In the final three months of the year, 96 houses changed hands at a median price of $1.095 million, a 2.82% rise over the previous quarter and an 18.83% increase year on year

Lifestyle, stunning architecture, proximity to the city and access to exclusive schools are among the top reasons for the area’s recent growth, attracting local families while luring back South Australian expatriates, keen to enjoy Unley’s affluent suburban lifestyle.

Boundaries

A largely residential area immediately south of the Adelaide central business district, Unley includes the suburbs of Eastwood, Frewville, Fullarton, Glenside, Glenunga, Goodwood, Highgate, Hyde Park, Kings Park, Malvern, Myrtle Bank, Parkside, Unley, Unley Park and Wayville.

It measures 5.4 square miles and is bordered by Cross Road to its south, the A2 or South Road to its west and Glen Osmond Road to its east. Greenhill Road forms the area’s northern boundary, separating it from Adelaide’s extensive parklands.

Price Range

Unley’s best and most expensive addresses can be found in Unley Park, where the leafy streets are lined with bluestone and sandstone villas.

The median house price is almost $1.4 million based on the 25 sales in the 12 months to December 2020, according to CoreLogic figures.

An entry-level house in Unley Park costs upward of $1 million but in the current market buyers should be prepared to pay closer to $1.5 million, Sotheby’s Adelaide principal Grant Giordano said.

For bigger and more desirable or luxurious home, Mr. Giordano said buyers need to be prepared to spend between $3.5 million and $5 million.

“The exponential price rise shows no sign of abating as demand is currently outstripping supply, ensuring high levels of competition for quality housing,” Mr. Giordano said.

The best homes are located on Victoria Avenue in Unley Park, where majestic and grand historical residences occupy “a superb tree-lined street, where the canopy-style London Plane trees create an irreplaceable streetscape,’ he said.

Luxury estate agent Stephanie Williams, a partner of Williams Real Estate, added that Northgate Street in Unley Park and Cambridge Terrace in Malvern are among the most coveted spots in Unley for buyers.

“These streets are highly desirable as they are all close to shops, cafes, schools, parks and the city,” she said.

She said a “decent home” requires a minimum of $1.65 million in 2021 and up to $6.5 million for premium properties, as prices rise rapidly on the back of strong demand.

Housing Stock

The streets of Unley Park blend the grandeur of yesteryear with striking architecture and modern convenience. Beautifully preserved Victorian estates built in the late 1800s, sit alongside immaculate colonial cottages contributing to its wonderfully preserved village-like atmosphere and sophisticated charm.

Exuding character and class, the neighborhood is dotted with lavish mansions on spacious blocks, with tennis courts, swimming pools, verdant gardens and flowering jacarandas.

Many residences were built between 1850 and 1870 with grand, original features including iron lace, wraparound verandas on spacious blocks, Mr. Giordano said.

“There are some new builds in recent years, however, the predominant style of Unley and Unley Park comprises grand renovated villas,” he said.

A 1920-built sandstone villa, extensively and architecturally renovated in 2015, sold in February, is a classic example of the area’s housing style, Ms. Williams said. More than 40 groups inspected the property and multiple offers were made on one night.

Ms. Williams said the initial price guide was $3.85 million to $3.95 million, however strong competition achieved a final negotiated sale price above $4 million.

“A local family secured the property and were thrilled as it offered all the lifestyle features and location they were looking for,” she said.

four-bedroom home on Victoria Avenue in Unley Park

What Makes it Unique

Charming heritage and lush parklands are part of Unley Park’s unique fabric and why it’s such a treasured home base for well-to-do families, professionals and creatives.

A 2.4-kilometre drive from the centre of Adelaide, it’s bordered by Adelaide Parklands and is well serviced by several community gardens, parks, playgrounds and community centres.

Leisure and recreational amenities include Heywood Park, Orphanage Park Doggie Park, Hyde Park Croquet Club, Unley Park Tennis Club and the Unley Swimming Centre.

Nearby schools include the independent Walford Anglican School for Girls in Hyde Park, which is a non-selective facility for more than 600 students, from early learners through to Year 12, including borders.

The co-educational Concordia College in Highgate caters for students aged five through to 18 and the independent Uniting Church co-educational Scotch College, founded in 1922, is in Torrens Park.

Enrollment for the two local public schools, Unley Primary School in Wattle Street, Unley for children ages 5 to 11 and Unley High School in Kitchener Street, Netherby for students ages 12 through to 18, are in high demand.

Luxury Amenities

A trendy and affluent neighbourhood, Unley is known for its boutique shopping scene, with shops such as Eco D. and Ecru selling designer fashions on King William Road, and Etienne, known for its artisan homewares and luxury gifts, on Unley Road.

Asian and modern Australian bistros and casual pizza places sit alongside dessert bars, chic cafes and refined Italian Trattorias. Pubs such as the Hyde Park Tavern and wine bars attract young professionals, while families enjoy the open space of Heywood Park with its towering gum trees and Soldiers’ Memorial Garden, where cannons and a rotunda honour those who served in WWI.

Plans for a $150 million development on Unley Road were unveiled in December, and immediately labelled a game-changer and a future landmark site that will transform the area into one of Adelaide’s premier retail, entertainment and residential destinations. The project is expected to attract major national and international brand retailers, a wellness centre, medical services, cinemas, offices, a supermarket and a discount store in an integrated multi-level layout.

Above the retail and cinema complex will be residential apartments.

Who Lives There

Families and mature couples dominate this area of Adelaide due to housing style, generous block sizes, proximity to amenities and a vast range of education options.

It’s old-school Adelaide, where the high home ownership rates of 63% demonstrate that once in Unley, families stay for a long time. In the 2019-20 fiscal year, more than $160 million worth of residential building approvals were granted in the area, indicating confidence in the area and a high rate of growth.

Census data confirms the area’s affluence with 40% of residents university educated, more than twice the state’s average. Figures collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows 28% of households earn an average income of $2,500 or more a week and the same number list “professional” as their occupation.

Notable Residents

Unley’s schools can lay claim to a long list of high achievers, including artists, writers, entrepreneurs and politicians. Australian actress Sarah Snook, who plays Siobhan “Shiv” Roy in the HBO hit “Succession” grew up in Adelaide and attended Scotch College in Torrens Park. Australia’s first female prime minister, Julia Gillard, was a graduate of Unley High School.

Outlook

As of November, the trajectory of the Australian housing market reflected a recovery trend, with smaller capital city markets such as Adelaide sitting at record-high values.

The expectation is for the momentum to continue as buyer interest outstrips house listings, which remain at historic lows, according to figures from data firm SQM Research.

Since the pandemic, “quality luxury homes in exclusive locations are in higher demand than ever before, with very low supply and prices rapidly increasing,” said Ms. Williams, of Williams Real Estate.

National listings portal realestate.com.au shows Unley Park listings are receiving four times the average number of online visitors, and so far just four houses sold in 2021, including a modern villa on Ashleigh Grove, which Ms. Williams sold for $3.1 million in January.

“This looks like it will continue until at least the end of the year before stabilising as we are now experiencing a big influx of interstate and international buyers wanting to relocate to South Australia which is competing more and more with the local market,” she said.

PARIS —Paris has long been a byword for luxurious living. The traditional components of the upscale home, from parquet floors to elaborate moldings, have their origins here. Yet settling down in just the right address in this low-rise, high-density city may be the greatest luxury of all.

Tradition reigns supreme in Paris real estate, where certain conditions seem set in stone—the western half of the city, on either side of the Seine, has long been more expensive than the east. But in the fashion world’s capital, parts of the housing market are also subject to shifting fads. In the trendy, hilly northeast, a roving cool factor can send prices in this year’s hip neighborhood rising, while last year’s might seem like a sudden bargain.

This week, with the opening of the Olympic Games and the eyes of the world turned toward Paris, The Wall Street Journal looks at the most expensive and desirable areas in the City of Light.

The Most Expensive Arrondissement: the 6th

Known for historic architecture, elegant apartment houses and bohemian street cred, the 6th Arrondissement is Paris’s answer to Manhattan’s West Village. Like its New York counterpart, the 6th’s starving-artist days are long behind it. But the charm that first wooed notable residents like Gertrude Stein and Jean-Paul Sartre is still largely intact, attracting high-minded tourists and deep-pocketed homeowners who can afford its once-edgy, now serene atmosphere.

Le Breton George V Notaires, a Paris notary with an international clientele, says the 6th consistently holds the title of most expensive arrondissement among Paris’s 20 administrative districts, and 2023 was no exception. Last year, average home prices reached $1,428 a square foot—almost 30% higher than the Paris average of $1,100 a square foot.

According to Meilleurs Agents, the Paris real estate appraisal company, the 6th is also home to three of the city’s five most expensive streets. Rue de Furstemberg, a secluded loop between Boulevard Saint-Germain and the Seine, comes in on top, with average prices of $2,454 a square foot as of March 2024.

For more than two decades, Kyle Branum, a 51-year-old attorney, and Kimberly Branum, a 60-year-old retired CEO, have been regular visitors to Paris, opting for apartment rentals and ultimately an ownership interest in an apartment in the city’s 7th Arrondissement, a sedate Left Bank district known for its discreet atmosphere and plutocratic residents.

“The 7th was the only place we stayed,” says Kimberly, “but we spent most of our time in the 6th.”

In 2022, inspired by the strength of the dollar, the Branums decided to fulfil a longstanding dream of buying in Paris. Working with Paris Property Group, they opted for a 1,465-square-foot, three-bedroom in a building dating to the 17th century on a side street in the 6th Arrondissement. They paid $2.7 million for the unit and then spent just over $1 million on the renovation, working with Franco-American visual artist Monte Laster, who also does interiors.

The couple, who live in Santa Barbara, Calif., plan to spend about three months a year in Paris, hosting children and grandchildren, and cooking after forays to local food markets. Their new kitchen, which includes a French stove from luxury appliance brand Lacanche, is Kimberly’s favourite room, she says.

Another American, investor Ashley Maddox, 49, is also considering relocating.

In 2012, the longtime Paris resident bought a dingy, overstuffed 1,765-square-foot apartment in the 6th and started from scratch. She paid $2.5 million and undertook a gut renovation and building improvements for about $800,000. A centrepiece of the home now is the one-time salon, which was turned into an open-plan kitchen and dining area where Maddox and her three children tend to hang out, American-style. Just outside her door are some of the city’s best-known bakeries and cheesemongers, and she is a short walk from the Jardin du Luxembourg, the Left Bank’s premier green space.

“A lot of the majesty of the city is accessible from here,” she says. “It’s so central, it’s bananas.” Now that two of her children are going away to school, she has listed the four-bedroom apartment with Varenne for $5 million.

The Most Expensive Neighbourhoods: Notre-Dame and Invalides

Garrow Kedigian is moving up in the world of Parisian real estate by heading south of the Seine.

During the pandemic, the Canada-born, New York-based interior designer reassessed his life, he says, and decided “I’m not going to wait any longer to have a pied-à-terre in Paris.”

He originally selected a 1,130-square-foot one-bedroom in the trendy 9th Arrondissement, an up-and-coming Right Bank district just below Montmartre. But he soon realised it was too small for his extended stays, not to mention hosting guests from out of town.

After paying about $1.6 million in 2022 and then investing about $55,000 in new decor, he put the unit up for sale in early 2024 and went house-shopping a second time. He ended up in the Invalides quarter of the 7th Arrondissement in the shadow of one Paris’s signature monuments, the golden-domed Hôtel des Invalides, which dates to the 17th century and is fronted by a grand esplanade.

His new neighbourhood vies for Paris’s most expensive with the Notre-Dame quarter in the 4th Arrondissement, centred on a few islands in the Seine behind its namesake cathedral. According to Le Breton, home prices in the Notre-Dame neighbourhood were $1,818 a square foot in 2023, followed by $1,568 a square foot in Invalides.

After breaking even on his Right Bank one-bedroom, Kedigian paid $2.4 million for his new 1,450-square-foot two-bedroom in a late 19th-century building. It has southern exposures, rounded living-room windows and “gorgeous floors,” he says. Kedigian, who bought the new flat through Junot Fine Properties/Knight Frank, plans to spend up to $435,000 on a renovation that will involve restoring the original 12-foot ceiling height in many of the rooms, as well as rescuing the ceilings’ elaborate stucco detailing. He expects to finish in 2025.

Over in the Notre-Dame neighbourhood, Belles demeures de France/Christie’s recently sold a 2,370-square-foot, four-bedroom home for close to the asking price of about $8.6 million, or about $3,630 a square foot. Listing agent Marie-Hélène Lundgreen says this places the unit near the very top of Paris luxury real estate, where prime homes typically sell between $2,530 and $4,040 a square foot.

The Most Expensive Suburb: Neuilly-sur-Seine

The Boulevard Périphérique, the 22-mile ring road that surrounds Paris and its 20 arrondissements, was once a line in the sand for Parisians, who regarded the French capital’s numerous suburbs as something to drive through on their way to and from vacation. The past few decades have seen waves of gentrification beyond the city’s borders, upgrading humble or industrial districts to the north and east into prime residential areas. And it has turned Neuilly-sur-Seine, just northwest of the city, into a luxury compound of first resort.

In 2023, Neuilly’s average home price of $1,092 a square foot made the leafy, stately community Paris’s most expensive suburb.

Longtime residents, Alain and Michèle Bigio, decided this year is the right time to list their 7,730-square-foot, four-bedroom townhouse on a gated Neuilly street.

The couple, now in their mid 70s, completed the home in 1990, two years after they purchased a small parcel of garden from the owners next door for an undisclosed amount. Having relocated from a white-marble château outside Paris, the couple echoed their previous home by using white- and cream-coloured stone in the new four-story build. The Bigios, who will relocate just back over the border in the 16th Arrondissement, have listed the property with Emile Garcin Propriétés for $14.7 million.

The couple raised two adult children here and undertook upgrades in their empty-nester years—most recently, an indoor pool in the basement and a new elevator.

The cool, pale interiors give way to dark and sardonic images in the former staff’s quarters in the basement where Alain works on his hobby—surreal and satirical paintings, whose risqué content means that his wife prefers they stay downstairs. “I’m not a painter,” he says. “But I paint.”

The Trendiest Arrondissement: the 9th

French interior designer Julie Hamon is theatre royalty. Her grandfather was playwright Jean Anouilh, a giant of 20th-century French literature, and her sister is actress Gwendoline Hamon. The 52-year-old, who divides her time between Paris and the U.K., still remembers when the city’s 9th Arrondissement, where she and her husband bought their 1,885-square-foot duplex in 2017, was a place to have fun rather than put down roots. Now, the 9th is the place to do both.

The 9th, a largely 19th-century district, is Paris at its most urban. But what it lacks in parks and other green spaces, it makes up with nightlife and a bustling street life. Among Paris’s gentrifying districts, which have been transformed since 2000 from near-slums to the brink of luxury, the 9th has emerged as the clear winner. According to Le Breton, average 2023 home prices here were $1,062 a square foot, while its nearest competitors for the cool crown, the 10th and the 11th, have yet to break $1,011 a square foot.

A co-principal in the Bobo Design Studio, Hamon—whose gut renovation includes a dramatic skylight, a home cinema and air conditioning—still seems surprised at how far her arrondissement has come. “The 9th used to be well known for all the theatres, nightclubs and strip clubs,” she says. “But it was never a place where you wanted to live—now it’s the place to be.”

With their youngest child about to go to college, she and her husband, 52-year-old entrepreneur Guillaume Clignet, decided to list their Paris home for $3.45 million and live in London full-time. Propriétés Parisiennes/Sotheby’s is handling the listing, which has just gone into contract after about six months on the market.

The 9th’s music venues were a draw for 44-year-old American musician and piano dealer, Ronen Segev, who divides his time between Miami and a 1,725-square-foot, two-bedroom in the lower reaches of the arrondissement. Aided by Paris Property Group, Segev purchased the apartment at auction during the pandemic, sight unseen, for $1.69 million. He spent $270,000 on a renovation, knocking down a wall to make a larger salon suitable for home concerts.

During the Olympics, Segev is renting out the space for about $22,850 a week to attendees of the Games. Otherwise, he prefers longer-term sublets to visiting musicians for $32,700 a month.

Most Exclusive Address: Avenue Junot

Hidden in the hilly expanses of the 18th Arrondissement lies a legendary street that, for those in the know, is the city’s most exclusive address. Avenue Junot, a bucolic tree-lined lane, is a fairy-tale version of the city, separate from the gritty bustle that surrounds it.

Homes here rarely come up for sale, and, when they do, they tend to be off-market, or sold before they can be listed. Martine Kuperfis—whose Paris-based Junot Group real-estate company is named for the street—says the most expensive units here are penthouses with views over the whole of the city.

In 2021, her agency sold a 3,230-square-foot triplex apartment, with a 1,400-square-foot terrace, for $8.5 million. At about $2,630 a square foot, that is three times the current average price in the whole of the 18th.

Among its current Junot listings is a 1930s 1,220-square-foot townhouse on the avenue’s cobblestone extension, with an asking price of $2.8 million.