The best spots to build your dream home, according to architects

An excellent location is always important when building, buying or renovating a property, but for prestige home-owners it’s absolutely critical.

While they naturally want to enjoy their precious leisure time as much as they can, they also want to ensure such a major asset grows in value.

“There are a number of fundamental ingredients to deciding on the right location,” says internationally acclaimed architect Rob Mills, who’s designed some of Sydney and Melbourne’s most beautiful homes, as well as many overseas.

“The starting point is proximity to an international airport or within an hour and a quarter’s drive to a major city.

“The next things are a temperate or warmer climate, views of the water and either boating in a safe harbour or a beach, and a good culture. You need to have quality produce available, great stores, cafes and restaurants.”

His A-list locations for prestige properties include Portsea on the tip of Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, Palm Beach on Sydney’s northern beaches and Noosa, the jewel of the Sunshine Coast.

Then, closer in, he favours Point Piper, Darling Point, Elizabeth Bay, Vaucluse, Bellevue Hill and Mosman in Sydney, and, in Melbourne, South Yarra, Toorak, Armadale, Brighton and Hawthorn. In Brisbane, a favourite is Hamilton, in Perth, Dalkeith and in Tasmania, anywhere around Hobart’s Civic Square.

Less anticipated tips are Umina on the central coast of NSW, Aireys Inlet on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road and Airlie Beach on Queensland’s Whitsunday coast.

But that’s not to say that the coastline further away from the main cities doesn’t have its special spots too. One of the aspects world-renowned architect John Wardle loves most about Australia is that there are so many gorgeous rural landscapes that continue right down to the ocean.

“That means you can have a remarkable retreat on an incredible part of the coast, but you can also have a productive farm,” he says. “That can be a very valuable antidote to our lives in the cities.

“At the same time, however, I’m always aghast when I see people build ‘city houses’ in the countryside or on the coast. You see them in both NSW and Victoria, and they’re really inappropriate buildings and look appalling when you apply a city aesthetic to a very different landscape.”

As well as making sure such houses fit their setting, with the use of the right local stone and timber and sustainable design, and with careful regard to the area’s history, the owners of such houses also have an obligation to make a contribution to the place, and to the community of which they become a part, Wardle believes.

At his own home on Tasmania’s Bruny Island, he planted 10,000 trees and turned a third of the property into a sanctuary, winning the Greening Australia Award for the most sustainable farm in the state.

“That’s something I’m very passionate about,” Wardle says.

His favourite areas for prestige properties are on the south coast and central coast of NSW, on the west coast of Victoria near the Great Ocean Road, around the Margaret River in Western Australia and the coastline of Tasmania, from the wild, rugged land of the west to the agricultural lands of the east coast.

Yet not everyone chooses to have both a city house and a home in the country or at the coast in these post-pandemic days. Now, many more prestige property owners are choosing to combine the two – or three – Mills says.

Instead of facing the difficulties of travelling between their various homes, especially if any are overseas or interstate, and bearing the expense of capital gains tax, a number are now planning renovations in their existing places of residence to give the houses much more of a resort feel – a peaceful, sensory escape from the hustle bustle of life outside.

For some, that means a series of living spaces to enjoy with family and friends, places to play games and share meals, outdoor living areas, a movie theatre, plenty of garaging for car collections, and wellness centres with a gym, a sauna and a massage space.

“Travel can be difficult these days, and people are time-poor, so they want to make sure they can have the best living experience possible at home,” Mills says.

“As a result, prestige property, now more than ever, requires a triple-A location. It doesn’t make sense to build an exotic house anywhere that’s not quality.”