Jun 6, 2026 – 5.00amClaudia D’Amore, 25, rushed to buy a four-bedroom house in the outer-south-west Sydney suburb of Catherine Field for $1.145 million with her boyfriend in May last year.The couple were anxious that if they didn’t buy, they would be priced out of the market, and their fears were correct: they reckon their house has already increased in value by $200,000 in the past 12 months.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Lucy SladeProperty reporterLucy Slade covers real estate for The Australian Financial Review, based in the Sydney newsroom. She was previously the breaking news reporter.Emma McGrath-CohenReporterEmma McGrath-Cohen is a journalist for The Australian Financial Review.Fetching latest articles