Berry’s buyers put down roots
Many are looking to make this idyllic enclave their permanent home.
There’s long been a real-estate adage that weekenders need to be within a two-hour drive of the city. In recent times ongoing road upgrades have made the green coastal district around Berry the outstanding 2018 property hotspot.
This is especially so for lifestyle property close to the water or with views, located within 10 minutes of town or the beach.
The near-NSW South Coast region’s long-time dairy-farming industry isn’t quite over, but the area is now a thriving downsizer and year-round tourism destination.
“The upgrade of the roads has been an absolute game changer,” says Carrie Bond at South Coast Prestige Properties. “The South Coast is so much more accessible to Sydneysiders. The desired two-hour distance is just perfect for a weekend getaway or move to the country, but close enough for family or work commitments.”
More than $450 million has been spent on improving the Princes Highway from Oak Flats through to the other side of Berry. Gone are those frustrating bottlenecks at Bombo, and the dangerous curvy, single lanes through Dunmore, Minnamurra and Rose Valley. The Albion Park bypass is next, having been contemplated since the mid-1990s.
With the traffic gone, the village vibrancy is evident – and not just in the queues at Berry’s roadside donut van. The restaurants South on Albany and the Hungry Duck are benefiting too.
Bond says that the recent Sydney slowdown had put the brake on impulse property buys.
Perrie Croshaw, from Inspired Real Estate Berry, notes that last year many properties were sold on the day of listing for the asking price. “The region has always been a sought-after location, mostly because of our world-class beaches and rolling green countryside,” she says.
Croshaw says the intentions of buyers from Sydney are changing. Where they once only looked for weekenders in the area, they are now considering living here, she says, noting that people are happy to do the occasional commute, or better still to telecommute, notwithstanding problematic mobile phone and wifi reception.
Neale Whitaker, a judge on The Block, and his partner David Novak-Piper have recently traded in their three-bedroom inner-city pad in Alexandria for the Berry lifestyle. They bought a four-bedroom 1930s homestead in Bundewallah, 4km from the thriving main street of Berry, spending $1.837 million on the one-hectare property with horse paddock.
The couple, who have holidayed in the region for the past decade, will make it their permanent base and buy a one-bedroom unit in Sydney.
The cottage, which has views of Woodhill Mountain, last sold in 2014 for $815,000, to James Carroll from the Lifestyle program Village Vets Australia.
Former Stockland boss Matthew Quinn and wife Julie also spent years holidaying in Berry before deciding to move there permanently. The couple sold their Kirribilli home, and their former weekender in Berry, to buy the historic Mananga for $2.9 million.
The seven-bedroom 1890s property has a history stretching back to the times of agriculturist David Berry, for whom the town is named, and had recently offered bed and breakfast accommodation. The original dairy with rustic hand-hewn timbers, a silo and horse paddocks sit on the near two-hectare parcel.
Prices have certainly dipped a little, but Bond sold the home in just 26 days – faster than the slowing Sydney time on market.
A market high was set in January when the former solicitor-general of Australia, David Bennett, and wife Angela bought a luxury Berry hobby farm for $4.75 million.
Set on an elevated 20ha near Seven Mile Beach, the property has run 20 Black Angus cows, horses and sheep.
Eastern suburbs-based Tom Snow, the founder of infrastructure fund manager Whitehelm Capital, bought in Berry last year with his husband, Brooke Horne. Snow, son of Canberra billionaire Terry Snow, and Horne spent $3.025 million on a 43ha mountain retreat at Beaumont.
Software entrepreneur and rich-lister Richard White bought the nearby Cooinda for $2.65 million.
Bruce Eason at Christies International says the strongest buyer interest is coming from Sydney’s Sutherland Shire and eastern suburbs. However it was Artarmon-based Channel Nine boss Hugh Marks who spent $4 million for Yeramba, a 40ha property in Broughton Vale with a house designed by the Mosman-based TDDP Architects through Belle Property.
Strong interest is also coming from Canberra buyers.
Ray White Gerringong agent Neil Campbell says the market is at an all-time high, “still running off the back of a strong economy”.He says his prestige buyers are divided 50/50 between downsizers and holidaymakers. Many downsizers are buying ahead of the time they will permanently live in the home, and Campbell says there has been keen buying by expats.
John and Yvonne Jeston, the current vendors of Triskaideka, a country estate at Broughton Vale, bought a weekender in Berry in the early 2000s and then decided to move there permanently.
Built in 2010 after their 2009 purchase, their modern country-style home, constructed by Strongbuild, has four bedrooms. They planted more than 400 trees, added a dam, and created the garden and veggie beds where there were originally bare paddocks.
Three paddocks suitable for sheep, alpacas or horses have been established, and a one-bedroom guest cottage with slow combustion fire added.
Elders Real Estate Berry agent Nicholas Lyell has the listing.
“We absolutely adore everything about this place, from the beautiful house to the birdsong,” says Yvonne Jeston. “When we bought the land, I had two dreams. One was to wake up in our bed looking out to the east towards the escarpment and adjoining farm, the other was to look out on bushland from my study. It’s a very peaceful lifestyle.”
Artist Lloyd Rees’ The Road to Berry, painted in 1947, immortalised the landscape on the outskirts of Kiama. It sits in the Art Gallery of NSW, along with Brett Whitely’s 1985 homage. Rees had a cottage, Caloola, at Werri Beach near Gerringong, and produced many paintings of the area – though feeling that the landscape was too green, “too Constable”, he preferred adding his own russets and greys.
Given the cookie-cutter housing estates that have displaced many of the undulating hills, these days Rees and Whitely would need to go further south in the Shoalhaven to find their views.
Neil Campbell laments that he doesn’t sell properties for strictly farming purposes anymore, though Croshaw says smart farm owners have adapted to the changing times.
“It’s hard to make a great return from farming these days,” she says, “especially when the land is worth millions and milk prices are so low.” Clever farmers are doing it differently, she says.
“The Pines in Kiama has been a working dairy farm since 1854. They now sell locally their own brand of milk, yogurt and cheeses, and a great range of gelato.
“Buena Vista Farm, with one of the best views in Gerringong, has been in the same family since 1859. They now run the farm, raising eggs, chickens, pork, some beef and bees, and hold cooking workshops some weekends.”
Carrie Bond is marketing a former 88ha dairy farm on Wire Lane at Berry, set for only its third owner in the past seven decades.
Since last trading for $1 million in 2002, the original farmhouse has acquired a Doug Riley & Associates extension and the property now comes with mid-$5 million hopes.
The five-bedroom home is split into two wings. It is fronted by timber decking and a wet-edge swimming pool linking the two living spaces. A laneway separates the home from the farm, which can run 50 breeders with calves, having 10 paddocks, steel cattle yards, machinery and nine spring-fed dams. Bond advises that the fertile alluvial soil also supports a pasture of clover, kikuyu and rye.
Sawmilling is another industry that has disappeared, though there are still relics. Bond is also marketing Sawmill Cottage, an 1870s home built for the sawmill foreman.
Exuding old-world charm, the quaint home with a newer extension has original saw cuts still visible in the beams, along with original floorboards. The heart of the four-bedroom home is an open-plan kitchen with Rayburn wood-fired stove.
Sally Dale from valuation firm Opteon says Berry’s property market has experienced rapid growth over the past three years.
The median house price has virtually doubled, from $582,000 in 2015/16 to $1.01 million in 2017/18, with both the general and prestige property markets benefiting from the Berry bypass.
“Berry and surrounds continue to be a hot spot for investors, downsizers, tree-changers and corporate high-flyers looking for the perfect weekender,” Dale says.
The dairy settlement Terara, just out of Nowra, has recorded the biggest South Coast sale of the year. Terrara House was sold by Carrie Bond after having a $6 million to $6.5 million price guide.
The home was built from local sandstone for the Mackenzie family in the early 1900s. Hugh Mackenzie was mayor of South Shoalhaven for decades.
The stables, which pre-date the residence, were for the horses of the pioneering de Mestre family, who settled there in 1845.
Etienne de Mestre was a celebrated racehorse trainer who trained horses – including Archer, winner of the first two Melbourne Cups – from the track at the house. The stables have been restored and converted into maisonettes for guest accommodation.
Entry to the property is down a tree-lined driveway with 100-year-old elms and oaks, flanked by sweeping lawns. There’s a maze garden, a parterre-style veggie patch, croquet lawn and a marble outdoor chess set.
Inside, a grand foyer and staircase feature in the 23-room manor, which includes a rear conservatory offering light-filled comfort. The three-storey, seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom home comes with 13 fireplaces and a widow’s walk.
Terrara House Estate has celebrity links as a recent wedding venue: Australian cricketer Dave Warner and Candice Falzon were married there in 2015.
General tourism is an income earner for many owners. Bruce Eason recently sold the 6ha estate The Drawing Rooms of Berry, nestled below Wedding Cake mountain. The successful Woodhill accommodation operation has an eight-bedroom main homestead with four separately located, self-contained lodges, which can each fetch up to $400 a night.
“The property had the appeal of generating an income,” says Eason. “Demand, particularly during the cooler months, remains high, with very healthy yields.”
Perrie Croshaw and Leanne Pugh at Inspired are marketing Broughton Mill Farm, which is run as a guesthouse and also known for its cooking school, run in a professional kitchen.
They’re asking $3.85 million for the 120-year-old, two-bedroom cottage with modern extension designed by Craig Watson. It sits in 1.4ha of gardens, with a solar-heated pool, tennis court and entertainment area with outdoor kitchen and wood-fired oven, as well as orchards and a chook shed.