Home Sale Profits Dropped $8 Billion
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Home Sale Profits Dropped $8 Billion

It comes as falling volumes and declining prices reflected a weakness likely to continue in the established homes market.

By Kanebridge News
Wed, Jun 22, 2022 12:47pmGrey Clock < 1 min

The nation’s housing sales fell by $8 billion in the three months to March when compared to the previous quarter according to data provider CoreLogic’s quarterly Pain & Gain report.

It comes as falling volumes and declining prices reflected a weakness likely to continue in the established homes market.

The fall in nominal profits from $38 billion in December echoed the decline in loss-making sales to $261 million from $355 million. Declines in housing values only kicked in after the March quarter, with the extent of loss-making sales predicted to increase.

CoreLogic’s analysis of 106,000 establish home sales in the March quarter showed the proportion of profit-making sales fell to 92.7% from the December quarter’s 94% peak figure.

The March quarter saw the first time profitable housing sales fell in a year and a half — unit profitability declining faster than houses.

The pandemic was the last cause of such a decline, in the three months to August 2020.

The major markets of Sydney and Melbourne are the cities most at risk due to higher interest rates, and therefore made the biggest contribution to loss-making sales over the quarter — the rate of unprofitable sales in both cities rising to 4.8%.

 Hobart was the city with the highest proportion of profit-making sales for the 15th straight quarter. Just 1 per cent of the Tasmanian capital’s sales made a loss in the March quarter, down from 1.6 per cent in December. 

Further the report fleshes out the different pace of growth between houses and apartments that has made units more affordable into the March quarter. Between the onset of Covid-19 in March 20202 and this year’s March quarter, combined capital city house values rose 25.8% compared to units at 10.6%.



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Want to enjoy never-to-be-built-out views? It may be time to tee off

You don’t need to be a golfer to enjoy the benefits of living adjacent to a golf course in Australia

By Sara Mulcahy
Wed, Oct 30, 2024 3 min

From the Spring 2024 issue of Kanebridge Quarterly. Order your copy here.

W hile water views are usually considered most desirable for property buyers, golf course vistas are snapping at their proverbial heels. This past quarter century has witnessed a golden age in Australian golf course living, with dozens — if not hundreds— of residential courses built around our major cities and tourist towns. These days, there’s a buoyant market for established large golf homes alongside off-the-plan apartments being retro built to take advantage of existing golf course views. So what’s the appeal?

Green dreams

Barbara Wolveridge is a director at Sotheby’s International Realty. She has worked with many of Australia’s most prestigious golf course developments including The National in Cape Schanck Vic, Moonah Links on the Mornington Peninsula, Macquarie Links International Golf Club in Sydney’s West and the Mirage Country Club in Port Douglas where she currently lives. (She was also married to the late renowned golf course designer and former US Tour player Michael Wolveridge.)

“People like to live on golf courses,” she says. “You can walk out of your house onto a beautiful course. But what you’re really buying is the extended view. You have acres and acres in front of you, but you’re paying for a small block of land.”

And while you can’t run across the greens in your bare feet, as soon as the golf is finished for the day, there are tracks and cart paths where you can walk and bike, enjoying the natural surrounds of lush greenery and wildlife.

“Some courses are a haven for wallabies and kangaroos,” says Wolveridge. “Here in Port Douglas the pristine ponds attract the magpie geese. There are the most beautiful birds everywhere — and the odd croc as well.”

Who’s buying?

While you might expect golfing real estate to be the exclusive domain of well-heeled golf-mad retirees, that’s only a part of the story. Golfing homes appeal to a broad section of the community, especially in the post-COVID era, when home often also serves as an office.

“Probably 50 to 60 percent of my buyers are golfers,” says Wolveridge. “But in some areas people skew younger, in their 40s — not necessarily golfers, but those who want that lovely view.  A lot of people like to come up here for the winter and when they’re not here, they rent out their properties.

“My very wealthy clients don’t do that, but the middle bracket come and use it when they like, and then it goes into the letting pool for the rest of the year.”

A cautionary tale

For most golf course adjacent dwellers, the only potential negative is the odd Titleist Pro V1 ball shattering the serenity as it sails through the bedroom window. But that’s not the worst thing that can happen.

Built in 1990 on the edge of the Great Dividing Range, Paradise Palms in Cairns lived up to its name with pristine rainforest providing a backdrop to rolling fairways and man-made lakes. Home to professional events including the Skins Game and Ladies’ Masters, it climbed to number nine ranking in Golf Magazine’s list of the nation’s Best Public Access Courses.

In 2016, the signature 7th hole was sacrificed to make way for an access road into a residential development of 585 luxury units. Then, horror. The course declined under new owners, was sold again, and a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan was revealed that would close the 18-hole course and transform it into a new housing estate.

Those who dreamed of seeing out their days overlooking manicured greens are now facing the prospect of a sea of roofs.

“Once a development is established, it has to make money,” says Wolveridge. “The developer has to put in somebody who knows how to run a golf course — and that is the hard part.

“If the developer isn’t making any money, it won’t necessarily devalue the properties, but if the course does so badly it goes broke, that is the danger.”

Happily, cases like Paradise Palms are few and far between.

“I can think of so many golf course developments in Australia that are very successful, and probably only three or four that aren’t,” says Wolveridge.

As always with property, to avoid a triple bogey, it’s a case of buyer beware.

How green is your view?

A commonly held belief is that golf courses use vast amounts of water, chemical pesticides and fertilisers to keep those greens pristine. In reality, golf course management in Australia claims to be at the forefront of environmental sustainability, pioneering the use of grey water and efficient irrigation techniques as well as new drought- and disease-resistant grasses.

Following the release of the landmark GC2030 report by The Royal and Ancient Golf Club (R&A) in Scotland in 2018, Australia has joined a dozen or so other countries globally answering the call to action on topics such as climate change, resources, water conservation, pesticides, labour and land.

While golf courses have historically relied on a cocktail of pesticides and herbicides, many are today transitioning to organic maintenance practices, using natural means to control pests and promote healthy turf.

KDV Sport golf course (12 holes) on the Gold Coast and Kabi Organic Golf Club (27 holes) at Boreen Point in the Sunshine Coast hinterland are Australia’s only two organic golf courses to date. But there is no accommodation — yet — at either.

MOST POPULAR
11 ACRES ROAD, KELLYVILLE, NSW

This stylish family home combines a classic palette and finishes with a flexible floorplan

35 North Street Windsor

Just 55 minutes from Sydney, make this your creative getaway located in the majestic Hawkesbury region.

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