Region. The west outperforms the east

A dramatic role reversal is playing out across Sydney's suburban landscape as double-digit house price falls in the east and north are matched by similar price gains in the west. A regional breakdown of house price statistics by the Fairfax-owned Australian Property Monitors shows the median house price in the city and eastern suburbs slipped below the $1 million mark last financial year, down 10.8 per cent to $960,000. On the lower north shore, home to Sydney's most expensive housing, prices also fell 9.2 per cent to $1.18 million. Meanwhile, a rush of first-home buyers has helped reinvigorate the south-west and west. Median house prices in Canterbury and Bankstown jumped 8 per cent to $443,000. According to the demographer Bernard Salt, it is a case of ''winners to the west and losers to the east''.