COASTAL holiday homes have fallen in price by up to 30 per cent in some parts of Australia since the start of the global financial crisis, defying the trend of a stronger housing recovery in state capitals.
The greatest discounts are in Port Douglas (down by as much as 30 per cent), while prices in places such as Townsville, Nelson Bay, and many other traditional holiday spots are also less than they were during the boom.
Research commissioned by Australian Property Monitors (APM) for The Weekend Australian reveals average house prices in coastal centres of Queensland, NSW and Western Australia all fell in the past two years, while there were moderate gains on average for the South Australian and Victorian holiday home market.
Many of the multi-million-dollar beach homes in places such as Sydney's northern beaches dropped sharply in value.
Hans Bendler has reduced the asking price of his beach house at Newport, north of Sydney, from more than $7 million to $5m, after it failed to attract a buyer while on the market in the past six months.
"We initially had hopes over $7.5m," Mr Bendler said. "We were finishing the house and the collapse occurred."
The 55-year-old builder-developer bought the land for $2.5m two years ago and built a five-bedroom house.
"I started building it about two years ago . . . it is five-star stuff," he said.
Mr Bendler said his overall cost would be $6m and the buyer would be "getting a bargain".
He said he wanted to sell so that he could move to Honolulu, where his son lives, to see more of his grandchildren.
APM economist Matthew Bell said the Queensland and NSW holiday home markets had staged something of a recovery since the global financial crisis.
In the past six months, prices in coastal centres had risen between 1 and 3.5 percentage points in the two states.
But prices were still not back to the levels they were during the boom more than two years ago. In comparison, house prices in Sydney had risen by 6 per cent, 4.4 per cent in Brisbane and nearly 13 per cent in Melbourne for the same six-month period.
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Jenny
The greatest discounts are in Port Douglas (down by as much as 30 per cent), while prices in places such as Townsville, Nelson Bay, and many other traditional holiday spots are also less than they were during the boom.
Research commissioned by Australian Property Monitors (APM) for The Weekend Australian reveals average house prices in coastal centres of Queensland, NSW and Western Australia all fell in the past two years, while there were moderate gains on average for the South Australian and Victorian holiday home market.
Many of the multi-million-dollar beach homes in places such as Sydney's northern beaches dropped sharply in value.
Hans Bendler has reduced the asking price of his beach house at Newport, north of Sydney, from more than $7 million to $5m, after it failed to attract a buyer while on the market in the past six months.
"We initially had hopes over $7.5m," Mr Bendler said. "We were finishing the house and the collapse occurred."
The 55-year-old builder-developer bought the land for $2.5m two years ago and built a five-bedroom house.
"I started building it about two years ago . . . it is five-star stuff," he said.
Mr Bendler said his overall cost would be $6m and the buyer would be "getting a bargain".
He said he wanted to sell so that he could move to Honolulu, where his son lives, to see more of his grandchildren.
APM economist Matthew Bell said the Queensland and NSW holiday home markets had staged something of a recovery since the global financial crisis.
In the past six months, prices in coastal centres had risen between 1 and 3.5 percentage points in the two states.
But prices were still not back to the levels they were during the boom more than two years ago. In comparison, house prices in Sydney had risen by 6 per cent, 4.4 per cent in Brisbane and nearly 13 per cent in Melbourne for the same six-month period.
Read more ...
Jenny