Snow change: Why house prices in Australia's alpine regions have 'gone crazy'
Crisp winter mornings, blankets of snow, crackling fireplaces and cosy apres-ski drinks … what could be more gorgeous than a holiday home at the snow?
A blizzard of Australians has felt the same during the COVID era, splurging on cool getaways at Jindabyne and Thredbo in NSW, Mount Hotham and Falls Creek in Victoria, and areas around Tasmania within striking distance of Ben Lomond and Cradle Mountain.
“White powder – of any kind – makes people do crazy things,” says Michael Henley of Henley Property, who sells in NSW’s Jindabyne and the Snowy Mountains.
“We’ve had huge demand over the past couple of years and we’ve seen prices soaring as more and more people choose this snow lifestyle.
“People go away and have an amazing vacation and they think, ‘Why can’t we enjoy this place for the rest of the year?’ In addition, there’s this push for people to get out of the cities and beaches, and sharks aren’t for everyone.
“We’ve seen Jindabyne, along with Byron Bay, named as the dominant high-growth suburbs in the whole of Australia,” Henley adds. “It’s been absolutely amazing.”
The latest Domain House Price Report confirms the stunning annual rates of growth, with the price of units in Jindabyne rising a massive 77.2 per cent over the past year, beaten only by Byron’s 104.3 per cent.
“This speaks to the demand and value of properties within close proximity of lifestyle factors, whether that be the ocean or snowfields,” says Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell.
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Agents around the snowfields have been hard-pressed to keep up with the pace of buyers.
John Castran, of his eponymous agency which sells property in Victoria’s Mount Hotham, Dinner Plain and Mount Buller, says he’s never seen conditions like this in his 40 years in the real estate industry.
“If COVID was good for real estate in general, it was better for regional real estate and absolutely stellar for alpine real estate,” he says. “We’ve been listing stuff and we receive offers within the hour and sell within 48 hours.
“I’ve sold more properties in the past 12 months than I did over the past 10 years. People still aren’t travelling overseas, and they realise they can go skiing and still use the places in the summertime too.
“It’s a generational thing as well; only 20 per cent of our buyers are getting finance as most of them are cashed up and buying it as an extra home. With working from home, they can stay there more often.”
The pandemic popularity of holiday homes in snow areas has been felt throughout the world.
Knight Frank’s annual Ski Property Report found the proportion of global buyers more likely to buy a ski home as a result of COVID-19 increased from 11 per cent in 2020 to 18 per cent in 2021.
The French Alps ski resort of Courchevel commands the highest daily rental rate of € 516 (about $770), while the Swiss ski resort of St Moritz recorded the strongest price growth of 17 per cent.
“This year has been an anomaly,” says Kate Everett-Allen, head of international residential research at Knight Frank.
“Supply constraints will ease as the COVID-19 landscape starts to normalise.”
But while the number of inquiries is starting to fall at many Australian cold hotspots, it isn’t – yet – indicating any white-out in demand.
“Inquiries are down 60 per cent but we’ve just lost the dreamers, who email us between 11pm and 4.30am,” Castran says. “They’ve left quality purchasers who are serious about buying.”
Domain data shows that house prices in Victoria’s Alpine Shire and the NSW Snowy Monaro region have risen at least 120 per cent over the past five years.
The median house price in the Alpine Shire rose by 126.4 per cent from $350,000 in March 2017 to $792,500 in March 2022, and in the Snowy Monaro 120 per cent from $300,000 to $660,000.
In Launceston, Tasmania – the easiest jumping-off point for the ski destination of Ben Lomond – the median house price has risen 80 per cent to $732,500 in the same period.
“Just about everything has at least doubled in price compared with three years ago,” says Michelle Stynes of Forbes Stynes Real Estate, who sells at NSW’s Thredbo, Perisher, Lake Crackenback and Jindabyne. “We haven’t seen any reduction in prices, either, and I don’t think many of our buyers will be affected by interest rate rises as mostly they buy with cash and this is their fourth or fifth place.
“We still have a lack of stock and a huge build-up of demand, and in Thredbo, for example, they’re not really building anymore. Like all holiday areas, things have just gone crazy.”
Meanwhile, prices are still climbing, Henley says, and spreading to areas further out, like Berridale, 30 kilometres from Jindabyne.
“It’s just like Aspen in the early 1990s when people would be priced out and buy property further away,” he says. “We see the whole area only growing, with plans for a world-class mountain bike park, golf courses – everything.”
The NSW government recently finalised the Snowy Mountains Special Activation Precinct master plan to drive year-round alpine tourism, focused on the Jindabyne town centre and areas of high tourism interest within Kosciuszko National Park, including the Thredbo, Perisher and Charlotte Pass ski resorts.
In Victoria, fresh snowfalls early in winter meant demand has shown no sign of slowing.
“We had significant snow on the Queen’s Birthday weekend, which fired everyone back into action,” Castran says.
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