For a place like Sydney, once so eagerly locked into suburban silos as fixed as – East, West and North Shore – it’s clear a radical change has come about in buyer behaviour. People are less fussy about leaving the place they grew up in and as Sydney’s inner-city suburbs sizzle, buyers come prepared to ‘shop around’. The once rigid borders between suburbs have dissolved.

Back at the turn of the century, people took their annual summer holiday in far-distant Manly. Redfern was a low-rent ghetto and the ‘North Shore’ was considered a mindset, as much as a place. Circa 2015 buyers be brave. They have a roaming eye. Those looking for a home today commonly brief agents on a set of ‘suburban values’ rather than a set of territories. The new Sydney buyer searches high and low for the best match, rather than just the best postcode.

Suburb swingers are affected by greater price equilibrium, as 163 of Sydney’s suburbs push through the million-dollar mark. Then there’s generational change. New buyers may cast their gaze further afield – but their expanded horizons owe much to the rapid gentrification of the city fringe.

Let’s face it: a lot has changed over the past few years. Villagey vibes have spread west of Paddington, with farmer’s markets, art galleries and top restaurants all to be found in places like – the once untouchable – Chippendale, Redfern, Waterloo, Enmore and Alexandria.

New infrastructure projects are jacking the city wide open too. They’re creating hot new investment potential in once out-of-the-way areas and connecting more areas to the CBD via bike lanes and public transport. Erskinville, Darlington, Newtown and Balmain East have all joined the million-dollar club, evolving in tune with new buyer attitudes.

Today people regularly move from Paddington to Balmain, Woollahra to Glebe, Surry Hills to Newtown and Killara to Woollahra without blinking an eye. Retro-migration from west to east, east to west, north to east are all possible, if not highly likely, as part of today’s new buyer behaviour.

Meet the suburb swingers

Tyrone Scott was a dyed- in-the-wool Woollahra supporter (who got cranky at his partner’s mere mention of the inner west) he bought a home in Balmain back in 2012 and has never looked back.

“We bought in Balmain and we actually think it is one of the best things we ever did. We were hell bent on keeping our apartment in Woollahra so we were looking for a terrace in Paddington, but we were falling ¼ of a million dollars short, so we were forced to look beyond the eastern suburbs.”

“Balmain suits us perfectly. It is a really young family area and at the time we moved, we were expecting our first child. The family atmosphere in Balmain and Rozelle is second to none. I know they call it the ‘insular peninsula’, but my partner Angela found the mothers’ groups there really convivial and we both feel the people in the inner west are just a bit a more real,” Scott says.

The Scott’s story is a common one. As the number of $1m suburbs has risen, so too has the horizon of the dream address. Criss-cross buyers aren’t just family types either. Criss-cross buyers fall into every consumer category – whether investor, first home buyer, inner-city hipster or prestige power couple. Buyers today are looking for a lifestyle and a pace. They want proximity to the city, a lifestyle passionately engaged with the community and a home that’s practical for commuting.

Wendy Rapee is a designer from the North Shore who expressed intent to look across Glebe, Annandale, Paddington and Woollahra for a $3m terrace. She found what she was looking for and purchased 150 Jersey Road, Paddington for $2.95m. She says the purchase acknowledges a new phase in life.

“We did do a lot of research before we bought. We knew we wanted a terrace and we knew we wanted to move away from the North Shore. We wanted somewhere we could walk out to places without having to drive. We know we made a good purchase. We have a good street, we are close to my husband’s family and close to friends who live around Centennial Park. The park is important to me because it’s great for walking the dogs. If it wasn’t for Centennial Park I might miss a bit of greenery from the North Shore. But I’m over doing the garden, it’s just a different phase of life,” Rapee says.

Pat Moloughney is another case in point. Moving from Melbourne, he and his wife were convinced Paddington was their dream hood. After living in Prahran, they felt only Paddo could fill the void. After missing out on some key opportunities, they bought just next to Glebe.

“We were looking for quite some time, my wife had her heart set on Paddington,” says Pat Moloughney a TV executive.

“We had to find that tipping point. After a while it was safe to say that Paddington had gone past us. We were open to Balmain, then we realised that had gone past us too. We looked at so many places. We started looking at inner west suburbs like Rozelle, Drummoyne – we missed out again in Glebe and then up came this opportunity in Forest Lodge.”

“The village feel from Paddo to Glebe was still there, and the actual developments with the tram works surrounding Harold Park and Mirvac developments were all good. Everything was there for us including walkways; proximity to work, schools and public transport.

“Unquestionably we got better value in Glebe,” Moloughney says.

Once thing certain in the sentiment of buyers today, is a desire to live in the heart of a cool inner city suburb. There’s a palpable dissolving of traditional suburban divides and noticeable changes on the ground that make these new areas more attractive than ever before. The inner-city scape is now more developed and appealing to families, singles and couples. From the Midnight Special for a drink in Enmore, to a special dinner at Ester in Chippendale, to the new and exciting program of arts events at Carriageworks in Eveleigh – the Sydney metropolis is throbbing with activity, indie retail culture and great food.

New infrastructure projects and progressive developments act as important pillars linking once disparate neighbourhoods. Green bikeways and bridges now connect the central business district to the inner west. There is new shape to Sydney, a new texture smoothing over the gritty hoods. Thanks to an economic revitalsation of once ragged and dirty suburbs close to the CBD, today there are simply more options to tempt us to continue the modern latte lifestyle.