Real Estate THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2020
WWW.TWEEDVALLEYWEEKLY.NET.AU
A year in review 2020 HAS been a tumultuous year for the real estate
Tweed Shire short-term holiday lets continue to book out this festive season with no sign of slowing down
No slowdown in short-term holiday letting By Jo Kennett
DESPITE THE recent COVID-19 outbreak and pandemic this year, Tweed Coast Airbnb owners are doing “very well”, with demand still high for short term stays. Craig Hill runs Howzit Boutique Holiday Management and currently has 17 listings on Airbnb, which range from boutique beach shacks to higher end luxury properties. “We cover family stays, couples’ getaways, pool houses and large group properties,’ Mr Hill said. “All our rentals are coastal, stretching from Fingal Head to Pottsville.” “We have seen a few cancellations (since the outbreak) but nothing like the first outbreak. “Airbnb has implanted an extenuating circumstance policy and with travel restrictions or border closures, allow guests to cancel penalty free.”
As the pandemic took hold in April, the NSW Government made staying at any Airbnb illegal, saying the new regulations made it clear “that no one should be staying anywhere other than their own permanent home.” Breaking restrictions at the time could have resulted in a fine or even imprisonment. Many Airbnb properties were rented out on short-term leases as investors looked to keep income flowing in. Mr Hill said that the dire predictions for the sector hadn’t eventuated. “We found that once everyone had a better idea of what was going on, and with travel restrictions and with no international travel, it bounced back fairly quickly, especially with interstate travel,” he said. “We have had a high demand for accommodation prior to the Sydney outbreak.”
Mr Hill said he had a mix of owners from all over Australia. “We haven’t had an influx of Airbnb properties from new owners per se but I think it’s safe to say there is a lot of interest from Sydney and Melbourne,” he said. “I remain hopeful that people will continue to travel to this very special part of the coast. “From what I see and hear, the property market is on the up and up, with demand for the area still very strong.” Airbnb properties in the Tweed Shire ballooned by 363 per cent from 289 in 2016 to 1,337 in late 2019 and that is only increasing, which has placed pressure on the rental property market. Many Tweed Coast owners have rented their properties out over the Christmas break. Airbnb hosts can see where their guests are coming from and can choose to decline them if they are from a COVID hotspot area.
market, with a sharp decline in property values in April as the country went into lockdown, followed by a frenzy of buyers in the later half of the year looking to escape the city and relocate to lifestyle destinations such as the Tweed Shire. CoreLogic’s Best of the Best Report outlines the country’s biggest property market winners, with Tweed Heads units making number four on the list for highest total value of sales at a whopping $149 million and 265 sales, just $6 million behind Byron’s total of 165 sales. CoreLogic’s Head of Research Australia, Eliza Owen, said their data shows a growing interest in regional lifestyle properties, that “may have been exacerbated” but “not necessarily triggered” by COVID-19. “The relative popularity of lifestyle markets is evident in our report, and regional Australia out-performed the combined capital cities market,” she said. “With the exception of the highest median value suburbs, our Best of the Best report is dominated by high performing regional areas across the country. “Sunshine Beach on the Sunshine Coast has seen the highest annual capital growth in houses nationally, compared with 2019 when St Kilda in Melbourne saw the highest housing growth.” As for an outlook for 2021, CoreLogic is expecting record-low mortgage rates will likely be a significant tailwind for property values, and may place upward pressure on prices through 2021. Property investment activity is likely to increase across smaller capital cities such as Perth and Hobart and government interventions such as the HomeBuilder grant and lending standards are expected to shape the market. “At June 2020, the housing debt to income ratio was 141.2, with housing debt accounting for most of Australian household debt,” the report reads “This poses an ongoing risk to the Australian economy, especially where heavily indebted households may be more likely to save rather than spend during periods of uncertainty or economic hardship.”
Open homes Open Homes will return in our first edition for 2021 on Thursday, January 14. Tweed Shire and Southern Gold Coast Real Estate Principals and Agents would like to wish The Weekly readers a very happy New Year!
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(02) 6672 4477