Mitte vs. Surry Hills

Exploring hipster hoods of the city's East

Date: 23rd Feb 2016

In Mitte and Berlin generally, most people rent their home. Germany’s homeownership rate ranks among the lowest in the developed world. Mitte is no longer a place of communal squats and easy house hunting, today in Berlin, you have to go farther afield to get a bargain. A flat on Rungestrasse, in Mitte, will get you a nice new building that combines cosmopolitan elegance and the joie de vivre found in Berlin. This includes a nice safe neighbourhood in the gentrified part of Mitte that’s close to the theatre district and trendy east Berlin nightlife.

View of Jablonskistrasse in the well-established Mitte district of East Berlin.

In Mitte a new one bedroom apartment sells for the equivalent of $AUD 4 mil ($2,560,000 Euros). The price tag alone makes it easy to see why this might be out of reach, when 45,000 euros is considered a good wage for young professional, just starting out. Even considering its proximity to one of the largest economies in the Europe, Berlin house prices seem rather high to foreigners, including Australian ex-pats.

In Surry Hills a $4 million dollar home will buy you a mansion. Something like 252 Bourke Street with five bedrooms.

Back terrace of 524 Bourke Street, a five bedroom family home located in Surry Hills which recently sold for $AUD 4 million.

Surry Hills in Sydney has a similar profile and reputation to Mitte in Berlin. It is a place that used to be discredited and out of the way-out, which has risen up out of the ashes to claim its rightful place as a residential trendsetter.

The Bourke Street Bakery is a Surry Hill’s institution located on the corner of Bourke and Devonshire Streets in Surry Hills.

Surry Hills created a stir last year when a skinny house – just 3.8 metres wide – sold for $AUD 925,000 at auction. This equates to $25,395 per square metre – an exorbitant price by any standard.

In Sydney the average cost per square metre $3,508, the average household income is close to $50,000 and the average home size is 285 square metres. That’s almost double the home size in Berlin where the average internal living space is 150 sqm.

Berlin quick facts