Coastal towns where a beach house can be had for under $650,000

The sun has not set on the Aussie dream of owning a beach house.

A collection of postcard-worthy areas with median house prices below $650,000 are dotted along the coastline.

Zilzie, on Queensland’s Capricorn Coast.Credit: Pat O’Driscoll Real Estate

The tide for buyers has turned in some spots where median house prices have cooled over the past 12 months, Domain’s House Price Report for the March quarter, released last week, shows.

These include Nambucca Heads on the NSW Mid North Coast ($635,000, down 0.9 per cent), Curlewis on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula ($645,000, a drop of 3 per cent) and Venus Bay in South Gippsland, Victoria ($500,000, a fall of 19.2 per cent).

For a slice of Queensland paradise, buyers will need to pay more than 12 months ago, Domain figures show.

These include Scarness, a suburb of Queensland’s Hervey Bay ($570,000 after a 9.6 per cent yearly increase), Zilzie on the Capricorn Coast ($575,000, an increase of 19 per cent) and Bucasia, a suburb of Mackay ($600,000, up 30.4 per cent).

Victoria has several options, from Warrnambool to Portland and Paynesville, where capital growth over the past 12 months has still not eroded affordability.

As such, budget-conscious first home buyers are also playing in beachside markets, where they can blend lower costs with lifestyle.

One of those markets is Warrnambool, where the median is $580,000.

Luke Williams, of Luke Williams Real Estate, is a life-long local who says for hospitals, schools, retail and restaurants, there is little need to leave.

The median in the dairy city on the Great Ocean Road will net a buyer a brand new three-bedroom townhouse or an older house in a coveted, established neighbourhood.

“The $450,000 to $650,000 range is really hot,” Williams says. “I think it is one of the greatest cities in Victoria because you’ve got everything at your fingertips.”

Nambucca Heads resident and agent Adam Jones, of McGrath Nambucca Valley, says holiday home investors are a renewed presence.

The town, where the Nambucca River meets the ocean, is about 30 minutes from Coffs Harbour, where the median is $170,000 more.

“We have seen first-home buyers priced out of other areas nearby, and we see a lot of retirees, which has been the bulk of the buyer profile historically,” Jones says.

“I don’t know if the stock market is driving them of late but investors are coming back, which is encouraging.

“Holiday letting in Nambucca has always been a popular pursuit; we see it quite a lot, where people can utilise the purchase for their holidays but at the same make an income from it.”

Ray White Group chief economist Nerida Conisbee says buying a beach house is less achievable than it was before COVID, but the ambition hasn’t faded.

“We saw a massive increase in the cost of many beachside areas because of the way people were able to work and live,” she says.

“Once COVID ended, we saw a bit of drawback in terms of pricing, but what surprised us is that in many places, prices started to increase again, and it has a lot to do with how flexible the world has become.

“Although a lot of us have been called back to the office, we can still potentially work a few days from home, which allows you to live part-time at a beach house.”

The demand for South-East Queensland property is rippling upwards to the Fraser Coast.

Scott Mitchell, of Mitchell’s Realty Hervey Bay, says Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast sellers doing deals with Melbourne and Sydney buyers, are bringing their proceeds to Hervey Bay.

“Those sellers are coming here, for the lifestyle and less traffic, topping up their superannuation and buying a caravan,” he says.

“They are selling at a higher level than us in southern markets, and reinvesting into our market.”

Conisbee says the income required to buy a beach house has changed.

“As people have become wealthier, they have invested a lot in the home, so there is an upgrade of the homes available,” Conisbee says.

“Trying to find a cheap beach shack can be quite difficult now in many suburbs where those shacks were once easy to find.”