The pressure of climbing interest rates, stretched affordability, and the 'fixed rate cliff' stress tested the housing market through 2023, however resilience largely prevailed, CoreLogic's Best of the Best report reveals.

CoreLogic Head of Research, Eliza Owen, said home values were broadly resilient under these conditions, however, there were some signs that high housing costs were biting with 2024 expected to be far more subdued for capital growth.

"Housing activity rebounded through early 2023 as buyers took advantage of lower prices, however towards the end of 2023 affordability constraints have become more pressing, skewing demand towards the middle-to-lower end of the pricing spectrum," Ms Owen said.

"Certainly, lower-priced housing markets such as Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide saw very resilient conditions through the national downswing period, and strong annual growth through to the end of November."

This is reflected in the Best of the Best results for 2023, which sums up the country’s annual property performance and provides an outlook for the year ahead.

The national top 10 sales for the year featured Sydney's usual Eastern Suburbs set, Bellevue Hill and Vaucluse, along with Melbourne's Hawthorn and Toorak, plus Coopers Shoot in the Byron Shire of the Northern Rivers region.

Nationally, Mosman in Sydney's Lower North Shore recorded the highest total value of house sales over the 12 months to September at $1.462 billion, with total unit sales in Surfers Paradise reaching $1.175 billion.

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