Natural Beauty Is In Focus At This Vaucluse Residence
A desirable combination of light, stone and wood features in Sydney’s east.
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This luxury residence in the exclusive Sydney enclave of Vaucluse sees the dramatic use of glass to ensure the home is not only filled with natural light, but also captures views of the Sydney Harbour and the surrounding bushland.
Here, the three-storey, 6-bedroom, 6-bathroom, 4-car garage home makes clever use of sandstone, polished concrete, glass and wood throughout the home to create a natural, free-flowing warm experience.
The home’s natural feel is most acutely felt in the series of generous living spaces including a formal lounge and dining room fitted with a double-sided gas fireplace, opening to the north-facing undercover balcony — an entertainer’s domain.
The kitchen – central to the home’s entertaining M.O. —is the elevated combination of stainless steel and Caesarstone, with a commercial-style gas stovetop and Liebherr refrigerators.
Another large room – ideal for a study or bedroom — and a bedroom graces the ground level.
Upstairs sees the accommodation of a further five-bedrooms with built-ins, four of which have ensuites all with natural stone finishes. The master suite is a unique sanctuary with spa like ensuite and bespoke cabinetry throughout.
Also on the upper level is another family living room with gas fireplace and a travertine family bathroom a further luxurious addition to the home.
Downstairs the home sees a wine room with space for entertaining and a versatile sixth, bedroom or private gym.
Outdoors is the culmination of balconies on each level with an entertaining deck with pool and spa on the ground level.
A remote-control double lock-up garage and two further car spaces provide safe passage for the pride and joys while a c-bus smart home automation and high-tech security system round out the home.
The Hopetoun Avenue home offers the very best of Eastern suburbs living with its close access to beaches and Parsley Bay.
The property is listed with Sydney Sotheby’s International Realty, Michael Pallier (+61 417 371 522) and Spencer Liang-Sun (+61 425 339 696). Price guide; $16 million. sydneysothebysrealty.com/
This stylish family home combines a classic palette and finishes with a flexible floorplan
Just 55 minutes from Sydney, make this your creative getaway located in the majestic Hawkesbury region.
This may be contributing to continually rising weekly rents
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There has been a substantial increase in the number of Australians earning high incomes who are renting their homes instead of owning them, and this may be another element contributing to higher market demand and continually rising rents, according to new research.
The portion of households with an annual income of $140,000 per year (in 2021 dollars), went from 8 percent of the private rental market in 1996 to 24 percent in 2021, according to research by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI). The AHURI study highlights that longer-term declines in the rate of home ownership in Australia are likely the cause of this trend.
The biggest challenge this creates is the flow-on effect on lower-income households because they may face stronger competition for a limited supply of rental stock, and they also have less capacity to cope with rising rents that look likely to keep going up due to the entrenched undersupply.
The 2024 ANZ CoreLogic Housing Affordability Report notes that weekly rents have been rising strongly since the pandemic and are currently re-accelerating. “Nationally, annual rent growth has lifted from a recent low of 8.1 percent year-on-year in October 2023, to 8.6 percent year-on-year in March 2024,” according to the report. “The re-acceleration was particularly evident in house rents, where annual growth bottomed out at 6.8 percent in the year to September, and rose to 8.4 percent in the year to March 2024.”
Rents are also rising in markets that have experienced recent declines. “In Hobart, rent values saw a downturn of -6 percent between March and October 2023. Since bottoming out in October, rents have now moved 5 percent higher to the end of March, and are just 1 percent off the record highs in March 2023. The Canberra rental market was the only other capital city to see a decline in rents in recent years, where rent values fell -3.8 percent between June 2022 and September 2023. Since then, Canberra rents have risen 3.5 percent, and are 1 percent from the record high.”
The Productivity Commission’s review of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement points out that high-income earners also have more capacity to relocate to cheaper markets when rents rise, which creates more competition for lower-income households competing for homes in those same areas.
ANZ CoreLogic notes that rents in lower-cost markets have risen the most in recent years, so much so that the portion of earnings that lower-income households have to dedicate to rent has reached a record high 54.3 percent. For middle-income households, it’s 32.2 percent and for high-income households, it’s just 22.9 percent. ‘Housing stress’ has long been defined as requiring more than 30 percent of income to put a roof over your head.
While some high-income households may aspire to own their own homes, rising property values have made that a difficult and long process given the years it takes to save a deposit. ANZ CoreLogic data shows it now takes a median 10.1 years in the capital cities and 9.9 years in regional areas to save a 20 percent deposit to buy a property.
It also takes 48.3 percent of income in the cities and 47.1 percent in the regions to cover mortgage repayments at today’s home loan interest rates, which is far greater than the portion of income required to service rents at a median 30.4 percent in cities and 33.3 percent in the regions.
Just 55 minutes from Sydney, make this your creative getaway located in the majestic Hawkesbury region.
This stylish family home combines a classic palette and finishes with a flexible floorplan
