White collar nomads are driving up the price of regional real estate, with suburbs between Tweed Heads and East Ballina now home to the most expensive property outside of the city.
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a surge in demand for a sea or tree change among city workers, with unprecedented focus on the Tweed-Richmond area.
New data from realestate.com.au shows that real estate in the Byron Shire village of Bangalow, 50 minutes south of Coolangatta, is the second most-viewed suburb in NSW since the COVID-19 crisis struck.
40 Blackwood Crescent, Bangalow sold for $1.05 million.
Between April and July, the top 10 most-viewed NSW hit list also included Byron Bay, East Ballina, Casuarina, Kingscliff, Lennox Head, Tweed Heads, Bogangar and Terranora.
“Since COVID-19 lockdowns began, there has been an interesting shift in search activity to regional NSW,” said REA Chief Economist Nerida Conisbee.
“The Richmond-Tweed appeal appears to be driven by white collar nomads, released from the shackles of their CBD offices.
“The laid-back lifestyle that can now be more permanently obtained, given hardly anyone is going into the office, is likely to be driving demand and prices.”
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8 Eclipse Lane, Casuarina sold for $2.57 million.
Anyone hoping to get a bargain by the beach or up in the hills in all out of luck.
Prices for houses and units in Richmond-Tweed have increased since mid-March, with half of the most-viewed suburbs recording a median house price of $1 million plus.
The median house price in Bangalow reached $1.05 million last month, keeping good company with nearby Byron Bay where the median is $1.43 million and the beachside pocket of Suffolk Park where houses will set you back around $1.2 million.
On the Tweed Coast, houses in the exclusive beachside enclave of Casuarina have a median of $1.152 million while houses in Kingscliff have hit a median sale price of $1.175 million.
“This is expensive for regional Australia and is being driven by Sydney money,” Ms Conisbee said.
“Affordability is a problem for existing regional residents and COVID isn’t improving things.”
295 Coopers Shoot Road, Coopers Shoot sold for $3.6 million.
Braden Walters, principal of Belle Property Byron Bay-Lennox Head, said interest in the region had soared in the wake of COVID-19, led by motivated buyers from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
“With the border closures, we’re mainly dealing with Sydney buyers at the moment because they’re the only ones who can physically inspect,” he said.
“Our Brisbane and Melbourne people are still looking via virtual inspection.”
Mr Walters said agents in regional pockets all along the East Coast had reported a similar surge in demand.
“We’re competing with other regional coastal towns for those buyers,” he said.
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