Latest NewsMagic Millions.... How Prices Have SurgedMonday, 30 January 2017

In 1999, just 421 apartments sold for seven-figure sums across Sydney. Fast forward to last year, when 2087 apartments sold for more than $1 million, a massive increase of 495 per cent.

"The nearly fivefold increase in unit sales above $1 million is a consequence both of the general increase in the median price over the 10-year period and of the increasing popularity of apartments in Sydney," says the senior economist at Australian Property Monitors, Matthew Bell.

Bell says Sydney's apartments total 26.5 per cent of dwelling stock - the highest proportion of any capital city in the country. Melbourne is next with 17 per cent.

The city and east lead the market, with 930 apartment sales of more than $1 million last year. The lower north shore is a distant second with 329. In third place, but showing the most impressive growth, is the inner west. In 2008, just 10 apartments achieved seven-figure sums, compared with 254 last year.

The NSW general manager for property evaluation group Herron Todd White, Michael McNamara, says apartments close to the city are increasingly appealing as housing stock becomes more expensive.

He notes the same trend in Sydney's south, where high-end apartments have experienced a surge, with 98 sales topping $1 million last year, compared with 51 the year before. "Anecdotally, this apartment market generally increased over the past few months of 2009 and into early 2010, though it has again declined since," McNamara says.

Agents report that buyer numbers have begun to fall following this year's first-quarter sales frenzy but no longer baulk at seven-figure price tags.

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