Surprise Aussie town beating out world’s luxury markets

The beachside town has topped the charts not just nationally, but internationally, among the world’s richest people.

The beachside town has topped the charts not just nationally, but internationally, among the world’s richest people.

Byron Bay’s prestige property market is slated to grow more than any other area in the world in the next five years.

The NSW seaside town’s luxury dwellings will boom by as much as 35 per cent in the next half-decade, outstripping the rest of the globe, according to a report by property consultancy firm Knight Frank released on Tuesday.

In the 2022 Wealth Report, Byron Bay was singled out as the most attractive place for luxury buyers in the Australasia region.

The other 11 places on the list, including central London, the Swiss Alps, and even a southern Italian town, were only expected to grow by between three and 30 per cent.

Demand for Australia’s prestige real estate is on the rise, and is classed as homes in the top five per cent of the market.

The report categorised buyers of these “prime” residences as ultra rich individuals, with a net-worth on average of $40 million.

Michelle Ciesielski, Head of Residential Research at Knight Frank, told news.com.au: “Byron Bay has obviously been very popular with our local population but essentially it’s had closed borders.

“But looking over the coming years, [with borders opened up], it is expected to see the strongest growth in the luxury space.”

Byron Bay has been named as not just Australia, but the world’s strongest property market for the next few years.

Byron Bay made it onto the top 12 hot spots because of its “health and wellbeing” elements.

The report said the NSW border town is “primed for growth” because “Byron Bay’s environmentally minded council has limited the number of new homes built over the past few decades, meaning that the pace of development has been more measured than in other tourist towns.

“This is slowly shifting as the area’s housing shortage begins to impact on local residents, amplified by the recent influx of city-dwellers switching to hybrid work styles.”

Ms Ciesielski added: “Byron became a place to desire over the world.

“A lot of movie production happened over the pandemic, and with more down time people were able to see more glorious images coming through [of Byron Bay].”

Byron Bay’s predicted skyrocketing prices for its luxury commodities follows a common Covid-19 trend, according to Ms Ciesielski.

“In 2020 they [high net worth Australians] wanted a home within driving distance to their main residence,” because of the threat of lockdowns, she explained.

“Now, we’re talking about the accessibility of places like Byron Bay, Gold Coast,” which are just a short plane ride or private jet ride away.

The seaside town is beating every other country in the world in terms of its future luxury market.

Prestige property is traded among high net worth individuals who usually have $40 million in assets.

A property is considered to be prestige if it sells in Sydney or Melbourne for $5 million or more, and in other cities for $3 million or more.

The London suburb of Knightsbridge and Austin, Texas were the only other prime real estate markets that got anywhere near to Byron Bay in terms of its percentage rise.

Dwellings in the London locality are forecast to jump anywhere from 25 to 30 per cent while in the US city, it’s been pegged at between 20 per cent and 30 per cent.

Other towns and cities that made it onto the list were Qianhai in China (3-5% growth predicted), Como in Italy (5-10% growth predicted), Orchard Road in Singapore as well as Avignon in France (10-15% growth predicted), Verbier in the Swiss Alps (10-20% growth predicted), Back Bay in the US and Dubai in the UAE (15-20% growth predicted) and Cap d‘Antibes along the French Riviera (15-25% growth predicted).

Sydney’s prestige property market is the equal fourth most expensive in the world.

Around the world, Australia was identified as the third most preferred country to invest in for 2022, behind the US and the UK.

The Gold Coast experienced the highest global price growth of any Australian city, at 17.1% growth in 2021 for its luxury houses and apartments on offer.

Australia’s luxury markets cities rose by an average of 8.4 per cent last year, significantly lower than the 25 per cent of the normal market.

Despite the smaller percentage, the sheer cost of those homes led to an eye-watering amount of money that changed hands.

The total volume of Australian prime residential sales in 2021 was $42.7 billion compared to A$18.73 billion in 2020, an increase of 228 per cent.

Australia still has a long way to go when it comes to its ultra fancy residences for the super rich, Ms Ciesielski believes.

For an idea of other prestige markets, if you paid for the top one per cent of a luxury house in Monaco, you’d have to fork out $46 million.

Beijing, which registered prime price growth of nearly 9 per cent in 2021 comes in second at $10.5 million, followed by Singapore at $10 million.

Los Angeles and Sydney completed the top five, both with a $8.6 million entry point for both.

Mumbai and Sao Paulo sit at the bottom of our list, at $563,000 and $604,000 respectively.