After almost two years of closed international borders,many city dwellers feel they have “done Byron” and are now holidaying elsewhere.
Holiday home bookings in Byron Bay are down from a year ago.Danielle Smith
Before Christmas,locals were commenting on the dearth of visitors. This week the holiday destination is experiencing a brief sugar hit of holidaymakers in the lead up to New Year’s Eve. However,this surge is expected to subside quickly after the last notes of Auld Lang Syne are sung,as short-term rental bookings fall well below expectations for January and purchase prices for holiday homes soften,although not to pre-pandemic levels.
Bookings for short-term rentals on Airbnb this January are 25 per cent lower so far than at the same time a year earlier,figures from research firm AirDNA found.
There are still opportunities available for someone hoping for a last-minute getaway,said Liam Annesley of Byron Bay Real Estate,as the holiday rental market is “a lot slower” than last year.
Interest in Byron Bay holidays has slowed.Danielle Smith
“A lot of people have done some overseas travel,they have spent a fair bit of money,” he said. “People are a bit more conscious about where they are spending their money.”
He said Byron Bay did have a good run during the two years when it was one of the few accessible holiday towns,but now those holidaymakers are looking somewhere else.
“A lot of people have done Byron,” he said.
As for the sales market,he felt it “had a bit of a rest for seven months” but has started to wake up again this summer.
Liam Annesley recently sold the four-bedroom house at 7 Kendall Street,Byron Bay within its price guide of the low to mid-$6 million range.Supplied
That “rest” translates to a double-digit drop in property values,although not back to pre-pandemic levels or to a point many locals could afford.
Property values in Byron Bay surged,up 55.6 per cent for houses and 50.1 per cent for apartments between the start of the pandemic and the market peak,on CoreLogic data.
House values have since fallen 21.9 per cent to a median $2.31 million,and apartments are down 13.8 per cent to a median $1.38 million.
Eliza Owen,CoreLogic Australia’s head of residential research,said Byron is likely to retain some of the value it gained during the boom,although she warned of the impact of rising interest rates and extreme weather events.
“We’re still seeing a lot of people wanting to move to Byron,but many won’t be able to because of those strong prices and the fact that their borrowing capacity is now becoming more limited,” she said.
First National Byron’s Denzil Lloyd said the exodus of Sydneysiders and Melburnians from their cities to Byron created a frenzy in the market that is now subsiding.
“I’d describe the market now as subdued but resilient,” he said.
“Most of the new buyers are retaining the properties they bought,often sight unseen,during the pandemic,but there are a few who are now being called back to work in the CBDs who are considering selling. Others are thinking about changing the properties they bought in the heat of the moment. So there will be a few more buying opportunities.“
Denzil Lloyd said there might be more buying opportunities. For example,a four-bedroom house at 56 Charlotte Street in Bangalow which once might have sold for $3.6 million,sold recently for $3 million.Supplied
Byron shire homeowner Robert Bruce,whose South Golden Beach home has been for sale for about six weeks,is philosophical about the market becoming quieter after its years-long boom.
“The people who are looking,they don’t rush in the gate with their chequebook open,” he said.
“Once people are confident that interest rates really aren’t going to go up very much further,then activity will resume.”
Robert Bruce is selling his home at South Golden Beach in the Byron shire.Danielle Smith
He is confident that in the long term,remote working arrangements will enable more sea-changers to move to the “exquisitely beautiful” part of the world.
“There is still a whole lot of people in the cities who dream of coming to Byron Bay or Byron shire and that is really not going to change,” he said.
His selling agent Ed Silk,of Ed Silk Byron Bay,said there is no longer than same fear of missing out from buyers as 18 months ago,when the market posted a “phenomenal” increase.
“There is still people who want to come,definitely,but some of them are in offices now where the organisation they work for or with calls them back in the office more,” he said.
Buyers are now mostly paying for their properties what they’re actually worth,says Brad Cranfield of Pacifico Property,with quality homes in the most desirable locations fetching the highest prices.
Brad Cranfield sold a two-bedroom apartment at 16/33-35 Childe Street,Byron Bay,for $1.75 million,with a price guide of $1.75 million to $1.8 million.Supplied
“Demand exploded during COVID and some people may have stretched themselves too thin with the rises in interest rates so there could be a few more sales,” he said.
“But most who came here from Sydney and Melbourne and Brisbane are holding on.
“Some are working remotely,others are going back a couple of days a week or month to their office,while there are some who maybe realise Byron is effectively a small country town without the amenity of big cities and are maybe considering selling or want to rent out.”