Sydney is a vibrant & varied city of over 3.7 million people. It is a major tourist destination and played host the 2000 Olympics.

The commercial office market is centered on the Sydney CBD where there is over 4 million square metres of space, the majority in modern high-rise buildings. Suburban office space of varying quality totals another 2 million square metres.

A frenzied building boom in the late 1980s resulted in chronic office space over-supply in the early 1990s with vacancy reaching over 25% in the Sydney CBD. Now, after a number of years of constrained new building, shortages of prime office space are fueling construction start-ups. Older secondary space especially south of Goulburn St is rapidly approaching functional obsolescence paving the way for redevelopment around the restarted World Square site over the next three years.

Industrial property is centered in the southern areas of Sydney between the CBD and older port areas around Sydney harbour, the airport and the Botany Bay sea port area, where warehousing and distribution facilities predominate and a number of large industrial sites are ripe for mixed redevelopment. There is extensive manufacture and warehousing in the western suburbs of the Sydney metropolitan area, with large tracts of industrial subdivisions. High office content industrial space is based on the north shore of Sydney around North Ryde and the Forest areas. Further to Sydney's north and south, Newcastle and Wollongong are centres of heavy industry particularly steel and coal related industry.

The retail property market is dominated by neighbourhood retail centres, the total being 191 centres.  In terms of size, sub-regional centres are the largest in area, totaling over 1 million square meters, while city centres contribute to only 5% of the total retail area occupied in NSW. There is a number of retail properties in the 5000sqm and above building area range currently for sale in New South Wales. They will achieve yields of perhaps 9% and sell for a price around $3000 per sqm of building area.  

The hotel & leisure market is centered around Sydney inner city areas especially in the CBD and King's Cross (Australia's red-light district). The near city beaches of Manly, Coogee and Bondi contain a range of temporary accommodation from backpackers hostels to 4-star hotels. Other important areas are along the coastal strip of New South Wales particularly Byron Bay in the north.

Sydney's first legal casino opened at Darling Harbour in late 1995 and has capped off the city as a major domestic and international tourist destination. There is a large degree of foreign investment in the hotel & leisure property sector right across Australia with the 2000 Olympics creating a boom in  hotel investment and building activity.  Australia is the most frequently chosen preferred destination of all countries, in Asia and Europe.

Residential houses in Sydney are the most expensive in Australia with a median price of over A$350,000 across the metropolitan area with inner ring house averaging over A$600,000. The North Shore and Eastern Suburbs of Sydney are the most expensive with harbour & bay waterfront properties frequently fetching well over $1 million. Inner city areas of Sydney have been revitalised over the last decade with Paddington and Surry Hills and the inner ring particularly sought after. There is currently a large number of units under construction particularly in the inner ring of the city. Rentals are in the range of $100-$150+ per bedroom per week - an average two bedroom unit in the inner ring areas rents for A$300-$500 per week. While a three bedroom house rents for $400+ per week.

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