High End Properties in Sydney are as hot as the Olympic flame that will illuminate this Australian city in 2000. Thanks to the publicity generated by the games and low interest and mortgage rates, the luxury-home market down under is surging up and over past growth levels.

Prices have jumped 14.9 percent in the past 12 months, according to the Australian Financial Revue. And Sales are up, especially in the areas bounding Sydney Harbor.

"In the Lower North Shore area, sales have been achieved up to $27 million (U.S. dollars) for a residential development site, $8 million for a city apartment and $9 million for a free-standing waterfront house," reports David Ogilvie, a REALTOR® with L.J. Hooker City Residential Real Estate in North Sydney.

The sales explosion, centered in Sydney, is sending concentric circles of growth through the inner suburbs. The Lower North Shore's suburbs, including Cremorne and Neutral Bay, and the eastern suburbs surrounding Double Bay, are experiencing the most activity. The outlying Homebush area, host to the 2000 Olympics, also has experienced a 90 percent growth since the Olympic announcement, Ogilvie notes.

"The upper end of the Sydney market is extremely boyant," Ogilvie says. "Properties are at a premium. There are plenty of buyers but extremely limited stock, coupled with the lowest interest rates in 20 years."

Luxury apartments are also selling rapidly at higher prices. Nine city penthouses sold in the past four years at $3 million or more, according to the Australian Financial Review. The current record sale was set in early August when a Sydney sub-penthouse sold for about $5.5 million.

"In the past two years, growth rates in some areas of the city have exceeded 30 percent," cites John Edwards, a property analyst with the Sydney-based company Residex. He predicts that although the boom may slow slightly, luxury sales will continue to thrive through the turn of the century.