Holiday home sales bounce back as economy recovers

The holiday home market suffered during the global financial crisis but activity is now starting to recovery, according to real estate agents in the country’s top holiday destinations.

Activity is also expected to pick up during 2010, with a lack of stock and availability of finance likely to increase the number of holiday homes put on the market.

Alan Crossman, principal of Ray White Real Estate in Port Douglas, says the activity during the last 12 months, and in the Christmas period, has begun to pick up.

“It’s been a good year. Up here in North Queensland people escape the cold, and it’s been good through Christmas all around. This last year has been good for homes and private villas, because people who may normally have gone overseas have decided to stay.”

Last year, Crossman said demand had dropped off, with Port Douglas feeling the effects of the financial crisis faster than most other holiday areas.

“From our standpoint, 2009 was generally speaking a very good year. We don’t know yet for 2010, but the forward looks are quite promising.”

Howard Cleine, an agent at luxury property-focused Paton Estate Agents on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, also says activity in the area has improved significantly.

“Without a shadow of a doubt, the market is better. We haven’t seen the almost panic-level of buying in the inner-city suburbs. It’s been very steady with buyers across all price ranges, and we’ve wound up with an exceptionally good year in excess of 50+ sales of lifestyle and beach properties, so we’ve got no complaints.”

In late 2008, Cleine remarked the level of enquiries had been “very ordinary”, and said he could not predict how the market would act. But now, he says the outlook for the next 12 months is positive and he hopes for good sales levels.

“We wound up a very good December, but the activity stops around Christmas time anyway and is just starting to pick up this week. The type of purchases are dependent on getting advice from solicitors, bankers, etc, and all these people aren’t accessible during the Christmas period.”

“We would hope for a good 2010, and right now the market is probably being driven on a lack of stock in the small acreages.”

An agent at Fisk & Nagle real estate in Merimbula says the town’s activity has remained steady over the last 12 months.

This is compared to late 2008, when Helen Stewart, property manager for Merimbula Lake Real Estate, said activity had been “dead quiet” for about 10 weeks.

“I guess we’ve doubled our sales since the start of January last year. Of course we’ve changed how our agency looks and done a few things differently, but certainly activity has improved.”

“We’ve had consistent performance. Of course the demographic has changed a lot due to the first home owners grant, and that sort of thing. We were seeing a lot of sales in the $250,000 to $350,000 range, and now we’re seeing sales ranging from $450,000 to $550,000. Higher price properties are selling, and we expect that to continue.”