What's in a name? When it comes to suburb names, it seems potentially quite a lot of money is at stake for property owners.
One Sydney developer is so concerned, it is lobbying Parramatta Council to change the boundary between two western Sydney suburbs to offer prospective buyers a more sought-after address.
ALAND Developer is building a 39-storey tower on the corner of Parkes and Wigram streets near the border between Parramatta and Harris Park.
ALAND's website promotes the location as being "in the heart of Parramatta" listing the address as "16 Parkes Street, Parramatta", but the land is actually in Harris Park.
The company's first request to move the boundary to incorporate its 331 new apartments in Parramatta was refused by the council in September 2020 over concerns about shrinking the size of Harris Park.
Covering just 65 hectares, Harris Park is already less than the 100-hectare minimum recommended by the Geographical Names Board of NSW. The board must sign-off on any boundary change.
Council officers have advised ALAND's latest application be rejected, but councillors voted this week to defer a decision to consider the views of residents in favour of the change.
ALAND did not respond to ABC Radio Sydney's request for comment.
The Parramatta 'premium'
The council said adding about 1,000 square metres to Parramatta as requested by the developer would affect 373 existing Harris Park residents.
Parramatta councillor Dan Silviero said he was open to the boundary change if it's what the community wanted.
He acknowledged the developer stood to gain financially from the move.
"It's that whole thing of what's in a name? It would potentially get them a premium."
Many gleaming office and residential towers have been constructed in Parramatta over the past decade, earning it the title of Sydney's "second CBD".
As at the end of February, the median unit price in Parramatta was $662,000 compared to $557,410 in Harris Park, according to CoreLogic data.
CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said that equated to a 20 per cent premium for Parramatta.
"It is unsurprising the developer would be looking to capitalise on the stronger brand appeal of this location," Mr Lawless said.
"A Parramatta address may be associated with higher levels of amenity, better access to transport options and within closer proximity to the captured working population of the Parramatta CBD that may support stronger rental demand."
Despite being next door, the much smaller Harris Park, sometimes referred to as Little India for the high number of Indian restaurants and shops, is less well-known, particularly beyond Sydney.
Perception matters
Principal of property advisory company Suburbanite, Anna Porter, said Parramatta was considered a "CBD in its own right" with services and facilities.
"When it comes to a developer marketing a project, Parramatta is such a known place so that it cuts through in the market, that reputation goes much further," she said.
Ms Porter said a few metres could make a huge difference to property prices when it comes to school catchment zones.
On the border of some schools' catchment areas, she's seen variations of hundreds of thousands of dollars in house values on different sides of the street.
"But sometimes it is all in the name and it can go down to the street name," she said citing streets named after eucalypts woollybutt and blackbutt.
"People don't really like being associated with those names."
Perceptions of suburbs can also influence property values, she said.
Some may have a chequered history or have a lower-socio economic profile which may put off some prospective buyers, while some Sydney addresses carried a certain status.
In Sydney's south, part of Lucas Heights was renamed Barden Ridge after residents rallied to change the name because they did not want to be associated with the nuclear reactor and rubbish tip.
Ms Porter also pointed to a new housing development built in Wollongong suburb Kanahooka — a name that makes "some people have a bit of a giggle".
"They really pushed the name of the housing estate as Lakeline because they wanted to dissociate from Kanahooka," she said.
"It is part of that suburb but some people didn't particularly like how that sounded."
