Grace Fuss is among the growing number of Aussies switching to electric vehicles. Photo:Tertius Pickard
ELECTRIC cars could prove a boon for home owners — supercharging property values on busy roads once shunned by buyers due to traffic noise.
Sales of electric vehicles in Australia have tripled in a year, from 6900 in 2020 to 20,665 in 2021, according to the Electric Vehicle Council.
Residential developers are increasingly offering charging points in new projects, while the $250m Masthead Ocean Club at Main Beach is throwing in an electric BMW with every luxury apartment sold.
Adam Phillis, of Phillis Real Estate, said buyers were hesitant to invest in suburbs along the path of the pending Coomera Connector.
Buyers within a new Main Beach tower will receive a BMW electric car
The planned superhighway is a huge infrastructure boost to the northern Gold Coast, stretching 45km from Nerang to Logan and easing congestion to the M1.
But Mr Phillis said the potential traffic noise had impacted house sales within a riverfront acreage estate close to the new road in Helensvale.
“Nine times out of ten the feedback is about the road noise, so if we had electric cars, that concern would be taken out of the equation and I’d expect prices to increase by up to 30 or 40 per cent,” Mr Phillis said.
A luxurious home on a manicured 2,035sq m parcel of land at 10 River Cove Pl was listed for $3.5m, but recently sold for just over $3m.
And 11 River Cove Pl was on the market for 270 days before finally selling for $4.825m late last year, to a buyer who had researched the M1 upgrade and was confident measures including sound-proofing and new road base would mitigate noise.
How’s the serenity? Riverfront … but a superhighway in your backyard
“At the moment, people are reluctant to buy due to the Coomera Connector,” Mr Phillis said.
“Buyers say, ‘we love the area, but the road noise is something we have to factor in the future’.
“Especially in River Cove where you have the rare large waterfront blocks — suddenly those are like gold if we have electric cars and road noise isn’t a factor.”
Herron Todd White director Janine Rockliff said that while improved infrastructure appealed to investors, traffic noise was a key indicator of quality of life.
“It is a known fact that excessive traffic noise can bring down the value of houses and the smart investor should consider carefully the alignment of the future highway to avoid potential degradation in quality of living and potential loss in value,” Ms Rockliff said.
Artist impressions of the Coomera Connector
Gold Coast stylist Grace Fuss switched to an electric car last year, and said saving on fuel costs is just part of the appeal.
“It is just so much nicer to drive,” said the director of Dapper Interior Transformations.
“You can wind down the windows and you don’t get the smell of petrol fumes.
“And it’s whisper quiet — it’s so stealthy.”
Ms Fuss spent about $43,000 on an MG fully electric model ZS EV, installing a port in her garage to charge the battery overnight.
“We looked at how much we were spending on fuel, versus what the cost of electricity would be,” she says.
“We went with a model from MG’s affordable range, but even with other models still a bit pricey I think more people are going to make the switch.
“With the amount of travel I do it is amazing to be able to go home at the end of the day and just plug it in.”
The lack of available charging stations was the biggest barrier to adoption of electric vehicles, she said.
Grace Fuss with her electric MG at River Cove in Helensvale. Photo:Tertius Pickard
MORE NEWS
Beach shack sold under the hammer for $5m
The Block head landscaper scores his own show
Gavin Rubinstein: major real estate shake-up
Apollo Auctions director Justin Nickerson said noise and safety were the two most common issues for buyers.
“These are the things that people quote to us a lot when looking at a main road,” he said.
“So electric cars will help with the noise and pollution, and will assist with noise being less of a barrier for buyers.
10 River Cove Pl, Helensvale
Mr Nickerson said some people flatly refused to live on a busy road, while others considered resale value.
“When the market is like it was in 2021, a main road property can be an entry into a suburb they can’t get into otherwise,” Mr Nickerson said.
“But when the market tightens, those smaller concerns are magnified.”
Electric Vehicle Council CEO Behyad Jafari said the health benefits of electric vehicles were already recorded in places like California with a higher uptake of zero-emission vehicles.
“It’s a little too early for noise pollution but the data for air quality improvements is coming through,” he said.
Auctioneer Justin Nickerson said noise and safety were buyers’ biggest concerns. Picture: Richard Gosling
Electric vehicles currently make up 2 per cent of total car sales in Australia. Projections for Queensland show that could rise to between 22 and 49 per cent by 2030, depending on whether incentives are introduced in line with the major markets of the USA and Europe.
The Queensland Electric Super Highway now consists of 31 fast-charging sites from Coolangatta to Port Douglas, with 24 more sites being rolled out across regional Queensland.
Meanwhile, the state government is pushing for 50 per cent of new passenger vehicle sales to be zero emissions by 2030.
The post Why electric cars will supercharge property prices appeared first on realestate.com.au.