{"id":26901,"date":"2020-08-18T16:50:28","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T04:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propertynoise.co.nz\/au\/?p=26901"},"modified":"2020-08-18T16:50:28","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T04:50:28","slug":"homes-selling-unseen-in-holiday-hotspots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propertynoise.co.nz\/au\/homes-selling-unseen-in-holiday-hotspots\/","title":{"rendered":"Homes selling unseen in holiday hotspots"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOTO: Byron Bay has long been a popular vacation location, with COVID-19 driving a surge in people seeking to live there permanently. Photo: Shutterstock<\/strong><\/p>\n

REPUBLISHED WITH PERMISSION\u00a0 – API\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Houses in popular holiday towns across the country have become hot property, as flocks of buyers descend on locations such as Byron Bay, the Gold Coast and Western Australia\u2019s Margaret River Region, with some properties even selling without an inspection.<\/p>\n

With COVID-19 placing international travel on indefinite hold, cashed-up professionals seeking a lifestyle shift are snapping up properties in Australia\u2019s most idyllic towns.<\/p>\n

McGrath Estate Agents Byron Bay principal, Nick Dunn, who has been selling property in the seaside town for more than 30 years, described current demand as \u201coff-the-hook\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Dunn said stock levels were becoming an issue in Byron, with buyers becoming willing to purchase properties sight unseen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done about three myself and I know that other agents have done them as well,\u201d Mr Dunn told\u00a0Australian Property Investor Magazine<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore COVID, I would never take a sight unseen buyer completely seriously, because it always comes up at the end that they insist on having a look.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now it\u2019s definitely happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Dunn said he actually transacted himself without an inspection, after returning from Japan in March and spending two weeks in isolation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only reason I did was I was waiting for something to come up on this street for a long time and it came up so I jumped on it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy business partner went through for me, but I knew I was going to knock it down one day and rebuild, because that\u2019s where I wanted to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Dunn said there was no discounting occurring by vendors, with the demand resulting in most properties selling above their asking price.<\/p>\n

“In no shape or form is there any discounting, and I\u2019d be bold enough to say that there has probably been price growth of five to 10 per cent,” he said.<\/p>\n

Byron\u2019s rental market is also under significant pressure, with supply in traditional leasing markets dwindling to zero and spilling over into holiday rentals.<\/p>\n

Mr Dunn said that usually in the middle of winter, he would have around 15 properties available to lease, but now he has just four.<\/p>\n

The tightening supply situation is also playing out at boutique agency Byron Beach Realty, which also operates a holiday rental business in addition to providing traditional real estate services.<\/p>\n

Byron Beach Realty licensee Diana Green said at the start of the COVID crisis, Byron Beach Realty had been forced to cancel and refund all of its holiday bookings.<\/p>\n

But those holiday homes are all filled now, some by owners moving into their vacation houses and working from home, and others by those who would have previously taken a permanent rental.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe very seldom get vacancies of any sort, whether it\u2019s owners staying in their homes or people that have said \u2018right, I\u2019m willing to pay your holiday rental rate, or very close to it\u2019 to stay in these houses\u2019,\u201d Ms Green said.<\/p>\n

On the sales side, Ms Green said one property, listed in the $4 million range, attracted 10,500 views on the Byron Beach Realty website.<\/p>\n

Ms Green said demand was largely coming from owner occupiers seeking a safer haven than Australia\u2019s big cities.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost every single person that I\u2019m waiting to find houses for, and I\u2019ve got pages and pages of them, they are wanting to come here to live,” Ms Green said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey might keep a city house, but they want this for backup.\u201d<\/p>\n

A similar story is playing out in Western Australia, with the state\u2019s hard border resulting\u00a0 in a bonanza of buying in the Margaret River Region.<\/p>\n

Demand in WA\u2019s South West is coming from the full range of property buyers, with first homebuyers taking advantage of generous federal and state government grants to build a new home, and wealthy executives and retirees buying up premium properties.<\/p>\n

Development Capital Management managing director Darren Cooper has been developing a housing estate in the town of Witchcliffe, located several kilometres south of Margaret River, since 2011.<\/p>\n

Mr Cooper said he\u2019d been surprised by the swift uptick in demand for vacant lots and house and land packages at the Reserve on Redgate estate following the escalation of the COVID crisis.<\/p>\n

\"Reserve<\/p>\n
Development Capital Management’s Reserve on Redgate estate has become a popular option, Photo: DCM<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe project has been going for years and has been a steady barometer for the South West market,\u201d Mr Cooper said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have typically done around one sale per month, but recently we sold 12 lots in six weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s partly because of the government stimulus, but it\u2019s also partly because of the realisation that working from home actually works, and people don\u2019t need to be in the office, so they\u2019re seeking a tree-change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stocker Preston Dunsborough property consultant Tony Farris said the Margaret River Region property market was the most potent it\u2019s been since 2005-2006.<\/p>\n

Mr Farris said there was considerable pressure on rental supply in the South West, with just seven properties currently available to rent across the towns of Dunsborough, Margaret River and Cowaramup.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat people don\u2019t realise is that we are actually quite a small market down here so when the market starts to come under siege, whether it\u2019s from buyers or prospective tenants, we get stripped of supply very quickly,\u201d Mr Farris told\u00a0Australian Property Investor Magazine<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now there is a combination of factors that are forcing the issue on the market, especially from a rental point of view. I\u2019ve never seen it this light on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been forced into this situation because there has not been a lot of investment down here in the last two or three years, where people have bought land and decided to build to rent out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been a level of investment but there hasn\u2019t been enough to provide for the moment that we\u2019re dealing with right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Farris said demand was surging for not only house and land packages such as the Witchcliffe estate, but also premium homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, we are very fortunate that we have such a diverse market down here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing capital flow coming into our market from first homebuyers, second homebuyers, professionals looking to invest in the region and we\u2019ve got that demographic that\u2019s not going to be holidaying overseas, those that are 60-plus, who are really focused on securing an acquisition down here and enjoying it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing very good foot traffic in home opens and strong demand for private inspections across the wide range of properties that we\u2019ve got, whether it\u2019s on the beachfront at Dunsborough or Eagle Bay, up into the semi-rural market of Yallingup and the Quindalup hills, areas just out of town of Dunsborough where people have 20,000 square metres of land, a lot of privacy and space and some really incredible properties.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen on the flipside we\u2019ve got the mining sector, which has put a wall up to eastern states fly in fly out workers, so we have this pressure on the area to provide rental properties to those who are moving from the eastern states and are choosing to live in Dunsborough or Margaret River or Yallingup.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen people from the northern beaches of Sydney, the NSW central coast and down into Victoria, they have to get over here if they want to retain their job, and they\u2019re primarily focused on buying because the rental market is not offering enough choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the Gold Coast,\u00a0Australian Property Investor Magazine<\/em>\u00a0recently reported that the\u00a0city had become a property bright spot post-COVID lockdown<\/a>, with local downsizers and interstate investors rapidly buying up available properties.<\/p>\n

Ray White Surfers Paradise Group chief executive Andrew Bell said the Gold Coast was entering a \u201cfascinating new era\u201d, with a rush of buyers seeking to move to the sunshine state following the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Mr Bell said Ray White Surfers Paradise had sold nine properties in the last weekend of July, most of which were sold either unseen or via virtual inspection.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince a second phase of COVID has accelerated recently we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of buyers purchasing here from southern states,\u201d Mr Bell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally these people are aged 60 plus, they see Queensland as a safer place to be, and have said to themselves \u2018Why am I living here, I\u2019m moving to Queensland\u2019 – it\u2019s as simple as that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are finding that people who are now reassessing their lives and choosing to move to Queensland is something that\u2019s driving the current strong activity seen in the market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Bell said many buyers had been motivated to find properties that suited a work from home lifestyle, with that demand complemented by the downsizer set.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current COVID climate is certainly having a fascinating knock-on effect for the Gold Coast property market,\u201d Mr Bell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs buyers are now spending more time at home and less time travelling, they are wanting to find properties that better suit their current lifestyle and living arrangements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a wide range of properties in our latest auction including apartments and units that people want to reside in as part of a downsizer or retirement strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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