23 Cylinders Drive, Kingscliff. The beachfront prize home is up for sale and expected to set a new record price of $5m-plus.
When it comes to property market royalty, small but mighty Kingscliff on the NSW north coast is deserving of the crown.
The idyllic seaside town of just 9,000 residents boasts the nation’s second highest capital growth rate over five years — dethroning all other centres but Byron Bay which took out the top spot.
Kingscliff house prices swelled by a huge 103 per cent, just behind the celebrity mecca of Byron Bay with 105 per cent, according to Propertyology’s analysis of the best performing markets for the five years ending May 2021.
But can these thriving coastal hubs maintain such stellar growth, with NSW’s northern reaches plunged into lockdown as Sydney grapples with fast-rising cases of Covid-19’s deadly Delta strain?
23 Cylinders Drive, Kingscliff. The home’s interiors were designed by acclaimed professional, Darren Palmer.
Both Kingscliff and Byron Bay have shone since 2020 with the exodus from capital cities to the regions, with a combined 64,000 people fleeing from Melbourne and Sydney to all corners of the country in the first 12 months of the pandemic.
Propertyology head of research Simon Pressley says house price growth in Kingscliff has far outpaced locations including Sydney (up 35 per cent), the Gold Coast (32 per cent), and Brisbane (26 per cent).
“The property markets of the broader NSW Northern Rivers have been incredibly strong for several years. It has been supported by an understated local economy dominated by tourism and a thriving boutique food manufacturing sector,” Mr Pressley says.
One of five bedrooms in the prize home for sale.
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“Demand for real estate is through the roof, while today, there is less than half the supply of dwellings for sale in Kingscliff compared to two years ago.
“The arrival of Covid-19 added extra fuel to an already hot market. Lockdowns have driven an insatiable appetite for space, natural environments, lifestyle and attempts to reduce future risk of isolation. Those with the financial capacity and an occupation which is conducive to work from home are bang-up for a regional relocation,” he says.
Propertyology head of research Simon Pressley predicted the trend towards regional centres would continue.
Until last month, Tweed Shire had dodged any time spent in lockdown in 2021. Kingscliff and surrounds became a haven for Sydneysiders seeking near-new, architecturally designed oceanfront homes.
House prices also headed north, reaching a peak of $4.38m for a five-bedroom Hamptons-inspired house at 31 She-Oak Lne which changed hands in an off-market transaction handled by Mason Garten, of Real Specialists, in May.
That trajectory is expected to continue, as local agents pivot to virtual viewings and prepare for another influx whenever restrictions are lifted.
Another top regional sale was 1 She-Oak Lane, Casuarina, which sold for $3.6m in July 2021 through Nick Witheriff, of LJ Hooker
Top recent sales include 19 She-Oak Lne, snapped up off-market for $4m by a Melbourne family and negotiated by Nick Witheriff, of LJ Hooker.
“I wake up with a sense of deja vu from where we were in lockdown last year, and I can almost predict what’s going to happen,” Mr Witheriff says.
“There will be a build up of interest that’s about to hit from Sydney, from Melbourne and also from QLD.
“I would almost liken it to a cageful of lions that are about to escape. It is really going to be a busy end of the year with people forced to make quick decisions,” he says.
The town’s hottest new beachfront listing is tipped to smash house price records, with offers of between $5m and $5.5m sought for a stunning five-bedroom designer home at 23 Cylinders Drive.
Beachfront listings are scarce amid high demand for near-new, architecturally designed homes.
The luxurious property on a 744sq m block was Yourtown charity’s December 2020 prize home and is marketed by New Tweed Coast Real Estate Group agents Greg Costello and Chris Hall.
Mr Costello says house hunting has become an at-home obsession for cashed-up city dwellers planning their next move.
“This is going to be a new record for the local area. With the times we currently face, we still seem to see prices moving up — it’s just the way people are viewing property has changed,” Mr Costello says.
“Over the last 24 hours this home has gathered an immense amount of inquiry and interest from interstate buyers and also local buyers.
“Covid has bankrupted a lot of businesses, but on the flipside a lot of online businesses are booming,” he says.
Real estate agent Nick Witheriff (pictured far right): : “We’ve seen a huge change.”
But Mr Witheriff says it would be a mistake to pin Kingscliff’s coming of age solely to the pandemic’s population shift.
“The biggest reason for that change has come off the back of a maturity in the township as a place that is now home to 80 per cent of us who now own here,” Mr Witheriff says.
“Kingscliff has gone from being a regional town located between Byron Bay and the Gold Coast, where people might stop in for fish and chips on the beach on their way passing through, to a place with a $0.5b hospital facility well underway; aged care facilities and great schools.
“We’ve seen a huge change over the past five years with the Casuarina retail hub and Coles supermarket where people can now get their groceries. We didn’t even have a shopping centre back then.
“Now it is a place where people want to live,” he says.
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