How the Southern Highlands is giving Palm Beach a run for its money

If the Southern Highlands has a peak hour, this weekend’s start to the spring school holidays is surely it. The best in show for property listings are traditionally rolled out at this time of year, the Tulip Time Festival is in full bloom and weekenders fill up with a who’s who from Sydney.

As Baby Boomers and Gen X families take to the tree-change lifestyle in ever-increasing numbers, the Southern Highlands is giving holiday destinations like Palm Beach a run for its money in terms of luring the high-end home shopper.

Long-time locals include rock legend Jimmy Barnes, former Liberal Party treasurer Michael Yabsley, celebrity chef Geoff Jansz, actors Judy Davis and Colin Friels, former Liberal leader John Hewson, broadcaster Alan Jones, Ita Buttrose and artist John Olsen.

They’ve been joined in more recent years by Hollywood star Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, renowned artist Tim Storrier and his wife Janet, former media chief David Leckie and his charity queen wife Skye, racing identities Gai and Robbie Waterhouse, former Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke and his wife Kyly, TV personalities Andrew Denton and Jennifer Byrne, actor Miriam Margolyes and, most recently, radio announcer Kate Ritchie.

Buyer’s agent Stuart Jones, of Rose & Jones, said the Southern Highlands is luring many of those traditional Palm Beach and prime coastal holiday home buyers because it’s not just offering Sydney in summer but a whole new lifestyle in terms of a low-key farming community that’s still within easy reach of town.

Privacy is the other bid drawcard for high-profile buyers, said Angus Campbell-Jones, of Campbell Jones Real Estate. “And the fact that people like Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban can walk around town without being pestered.”

Michael Maloney, of Richardson & Wrench Bowral, said half of his buyers are cashed-up retirees from Sydney, and the other half are younger families who are moving there for the country lifestyle, the more affordable housing options and the schools on offer.

Local private schools say the demand for places has increased in recent years, with Oxley College adding two extra classes from next year, Frensham enrolments up 10 per cent in the past few years, and St Paul’s International College growing in recent years from purely a senior school to offer places from year 7 to 12.

That growing demand isn’t being met by increased stock levels, however, which is in large part why the median house price has risen in the past 12 months, said John Renouf, of Drew Lindsay Real Estate.

“Our market has traditionally lagged behind any moves in Sydney by about six months, but not in the past few years,” Renouf said. “It looks like that is changing now as more stock comes on this spring.”

Domain data shows the median house price has risen broadly across the Southern Highlands townships, with Bowral up 8.8 per cent in the past 12 months.

Nowhere is the lack of stock more apparent than at the ultra-prestige level where sales in that $10 million-plus range have been few and far between.

Of those high-end sales, fashion industry veteran Peter Weiss and his wife Doris sold their Wollombi Estate for $10.65 million last year, and in 2011 Aqualand managing director Jin Lin paid $8.75 million for his Mittagong weekender.

The district’s record was set nine years ago when the late TV pioneer Reg Grundy bought Comfort Hill for $15 million.

Michael Maloney says the drought in top-end listings of recent years is expected to end in coming weeks.

Murdoch Media executive chairman Matt Handbury and his wife Clare Strang launched their Southern Highlands trophy Wattle Ridge to the market this weekend.

That 120-hectare holding is yet to be given an official asking price by Ken Jacobs, of Christie’s International, and Chris Meares, of Meares & Associates, but is widely expected to sell for more than $10 million.