NOOSA

Noosa heads

MICHELLE SINGER

he $400m luxury housing estate Elysium to the west of Noosa Heads’ famous Hastings Street, was an ambitious plan. Launched in 2004 by Sydney-based developer Consolo Property, the 27ha site adjacent to the Noosa Springs Golf Course, the project was to be a 189-home estate with properties priced between $1.25m and $2.65m.

Key to the execution was the commissioning of a dozen or more of Australia’s biggest architectural firms hired to design these world-class homes. But it wasn’t to be for the sleepy resort town, which now is suffering a major COVID-19 outbreak. The GFC struck in 2008 and the project collapsed, with administrators appointed before home builder AVJennings bought the project in 2011.

For Noosa Heads real estate agent Sean Cary, it was an opportunity to sell what he considered a brilliant concept. “I always knew it was going to work; it was just a matter of timing and price,” he says, having called AVJennings asking for a job the day the deal was announced.

Back then only a handful of the dream homes were complete, several more were unfinished and 158 blocks of vacant land were yet to be sold.

“When AVJennings took it over, Noosa was still recovering from the GFC and it extended here a lot longer than it did in other areas,” Cary says. “It wasn’t until the end of 2012 that we started to see signs of a recovery. We thought the land was going to walk out the door because it was Noosa and well-priced, but we didn’t factor in all the negativity and uncertainty hanging around at that time.”

The prices of the homes were slashed to $1.2m, but even then the market was prepared to pay only around $800,000 to $900,000.

“It took two years; it was a hard slog,” Cary says.

A big turning point was the completion of Elysium’s $3m recreation centre, with its lap pool, gym, dual tennis courts, playground and dog park, in October 2012. It instilled confidence in buyers and remains a highly valued perk among residents, including former property developer Geoff Brinckman and his wife Anne, who were the first buyers in 2011.

Having purchased a Bligh Voller Nield-designed property at T

A designed life A high-end housing estate that got off to a rocky start now has everything to offer buyers

Clockwise from below: 6 Cottonwood Court, living room and exterior; and two views of 4 Cottonwood Court, designed by Bligh Voller Nield

4 Cottonwood Court for $950,000, the couple now is moving to a single-level apartment and has listed the four-bedroom home with price expectations of $1.695m.

“We were just driving past when we saw it was open and decided to stop in and take a look,” Geoff Brinckman says.

“As soon as we walked in, we looked at each other and said: ‘This is it.’ The roads, facilities and landscaping are all first class. There’s a real family atmosphere; kids are everywhere, playing in the road.

“I don’t think people fully appreciate what’s on offer here. They look at the house but don’t consider everything else they’re getting in all those other facilities — it’s a great advantage of what we’ve got here.”

Similarly, the Brinckmans’ neighbours at 6 Cottonwood Court, who also plan to move into an apartment, have listed their Richard Kirkdesigned home for $1.5m, having purchased it in 2013 for $806,000.

Jared and Jayden Clout, sons of renowned Noosa Heads designer Paul Clout, recognised the potential of Elysium early, launching their business CUBE Home.

The estate was finished to the highest standard and it was a nobrainer, the brothers say: “We bought two blocks and designed and built a home each and were planning on living in them. But they sold so well we thought we’d start a business.”

While their father specialises in high-end luxury builds regularly valued at $5m or more, Jared, 27, and Jayden, 25, deliver a more minimalist product with large master bedrooms and plenty of glazing.

They completed more than a dozen homes in Elysium, with some resales achieving almost $1m after Elysium’s estimated price growth of 60 per cent in the past five years, according to CoreLogic.

There is still plenty of upside yet to be achieved though, according to Cary, with building documentation on the original architectural homes proving prices remain well below replacement costs.

“You can’t buy a similar home anywhere else in Noosa for what Elysium homes are on the market for at the moment,” Cary says.

“Houses here won’t perform any differently from the rest of Noosa; it’s in such a central location, has all the facilities and is of the highest quality.”