Is now the time to buy in Australia’s most-loved tree-change areas?
Buyers longing for peace, quiet and serenity in some of Australia’s most sought-after tree-change locations are in luck, with new data revealing house prices have fallen in some of the most expensive regional towns.
The latest Domain House Price Report shows some of Australia’s upscale country areas, such as Bowral and Daylesford, recorded price falls of close to 12 per cent in just 12 months.
Bowral’s median is now $1.4 million, down 11.9 per cent year-on-year, while Daylesford’s median is now $872,500, down 5.7 per cent in the same period.
Other towns that recorded price falls include Bundanoon ($1,067,500), down 2.9 per cent year-on-year; and Bungendore ($1,025,000), down 3.5 per cent year-on-year.
Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell says falling prices in these upscale regional areas offer a window of opportunity for buyers.
“Capital-city markets like Sydney are so expensive, so you see that flight to the affordable and lifestyle markets of regional NSW and other areas,” she says. “We saw an unusual period of growth during the pandemic [which] fast-tracked decisions of house hunters and created a greater wave of tree-change movements.
“That exodus to these lifestyle locations is certainly not as strong now, but I think that flow of people into these markets will always be there because of that regional lifestyle on offer.”
Powell says buyers who missed out on those areas during the pandemic because “the market was so hot” are now able to buy there.
Ray White Group chief economist Nerida Conisbee says prices in some of these neighbourhoods have returned to a pre-pandemic norm.
“Prices in [areas] like Bowral and Daylesford grew during the pandemic so we’re only now just seeing those prices adjust to what they were before the pandemic,” she says.
This means clever buyers on the hunt for a property that offers a quiet lifestyle are now in the perfect position to buy, Conisbee says.
“Prices have come back and it makes it a good time to purchase,” she says. “Somewhere like Daylesford, as an example, is a beautiful place to live and it’s only going to become more desirable in the long term.
“As we’ve seen in sea-change areas when conditions start to soften, prices will move quickly so the opportunity for people to buy is when those prices soften as they have.”
Agent Sarah Burke of DiJones – Southern Highlands says while Bowral hasn’t seen as much growth in the past year as it experienced during the pandemic, the town has still recorded some strong sales.
“The skyrocketing price growth over those COVID years definitely hasn’t happened in the past year but it still had such growth in our books,” Burke says. “In the past five years, we saw house prices jump by 50 per cent and in the last five months, we’ve seen a 5 per cent growth.
“So, while it isn’t substantial growth in comparison, the rate of growth is still significant.”
Domain data shows in five years, Bowral’s house prices jumped by 55.1 per cent, or $771,400.
“The thing about Bowral is that it’s only about an hour and a half to Sydney [and] two hours to Canberra, so proximity to any major city has always been a drawcard,” Burke adds. “But it’s also a very charming town, a creative community and very beautiful.”
In Daylesford, Kim McQueen of McQueen Real Estate says buyers looking to purchase in the area are often using their properties as a holiday home or living in it part-time.
“About 90 to 95 per cent of our buyers are coming out of Melbourne, which is only an hour and 20 minutes from here,” she says. “And they’re not buying to live here full-time, they’re generally downsizing or purchasing it as a holiday home.
“A lot of them would purchase a property and spend three to four days a week there and then head back to Melbourne.”
McQueen recently sold a property at 3 Mulcahys Road, Trentham, 20 minutes from Daylesford, for $2.5 million. The 2100-square-metre property boasts three spacious bedrooms, manicured gardens and vaulted ceilings in the dining and kitchen area.
“This was the highest sale price of a property ever within the Trentham township,” she says. “So while the market isn’t booming, we’re certainly moving good stock in and around Daylesford,” she says.
Powell says waning prices cycle around every few years in some of these areas.
“It’s a unique opportunity to purchase in the market and it’s only every few years where that opportunity to buy into a suburb with falling prices comes along,” she says. “And if it has long-term fundamentals for growth – particularly in some of the Southern Highland areas – it’s only a matter of time before prices lift again.”
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