Buyers splashing out on pools again in a post-Covid world

Pools and spas are returning to popularity after years of falling out of favour and what were once sales albatrosses are now considered assets.

This property at 116 Hayward Rd, Lake Macdonald, has a 25m pool and a $17m price tag.

The number of Australians living in houses with pools or spas has marginally increased over the past five years, and the Covid-19 pandemic is credited with a resurgence in the popularity of backyard swimming holes.

Once largely regarded as a negative for people trying to sell their homes, particularly in the southern states, swimming pools are now seen as a positive for families, especially those looking to entertain young children.

More than 3.1 million Australians live in a house with a swimming pool or spa, equivalent to one-in-seven people, or 14 per cent of the population, up from 13 per cent when Roy Morgan looked at the prevalence of swimming pools and spas five years ago.

26 McAnally Dr, Sunshine Beach near Noosa, is being auctioned.

Regional Queensland, including the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, and the regional cities up the state’s coast such as Bundaberg, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns, led the nation in pool ownership, with almost one in four rural Queenslanders, or 24 per cent, living in a house with a swimming pool or spa.

People in the nation’s most northerly state capitals (Brisbane, Perth and Sydney) are far more likely to own or rent houses with swimming pools than their southerly counterparts, according to Roy Morgan.

Just under a one-fifth, or 19 per cent, of Brisbane residents, 17 per cent of Perth residents and 16 per cent of Sydneysiders own a swimming pool or spa. Swimming pool ownership is below the national average in other capital cities such as Adelaide (with 13 per cent pool ownership). There is 11 per cent pool ownership in Canberra, and only 9 per cent pool ownership in Melbourne.

Backyard pools are once again being sought by homebuyers.

Blue Haven Pools managing director Remonda Rose says that, since the pandemic, inquiry for swimming pools has been steadily increasing, particularly from ­people in Sydney’s suburbs where old houses are being knocked down and rebuilt. “In the past seven days we’ve had 100 inquiries from people wanting to knock down their old houses and sneak in a pool in the back yard before building a new house,” says Rose, daughter of the founder of Blue Haven Pools, Ray Awadallah.

She says the knock down and rebuild market, as well as demand to build pools in the duplex market, has doubled in the past two years, with demand from the inner-west suburb of Five Dock to the northern suburbs, western suburbs, Sutherland Shire and eastern suburbs.

Rose adds that while the pools being built these days are generally smaller, due to council requirements, there is also demand in the newer housing estates in the western suburbs.

Further north, in Noosa, agent Tom Offermann says that, given the Sunshine State’s climate, most people want a pool.

“Pools have always been a strong desirable feature, because in Noosa you can swim for most of the year in pools which are unheated,” Offermann says.

Tom Offermann Real Estate has a $17m asking price on 116 Hayward Rd, Lake McDonald that has a 25m pool. Closer to the coast, it will auction 26 McAnally Dr, Sunshine Beach near Noosa, on November 4. Azure, a five-bedroom, four-bathroom multi award-winning Chris Clout-designed property also features a standout designer pool.

“If I had to guess the number of houses up here in Noosa with a pool I would say 70 per cent, but that can be anything from a plunge pool to a big pool,” Offermann says.

“For many people, a large part of pool ownership is the aesthetics. For a lot of people, owning a pool is about just looking at it in their garden – they don’t necessarily swim in it.”

But Offermann says pool ownership depends on the age group. “Some people who are older get tired of the expense associated with a pool.”

In Sydney’s Mosman, Richardson & Wrench agent Kirsty Freyer says her buyers don’t necessarily ask for a swimming pool when looking to buy property in the wealthy suburb north of the harbour, “because we are so well serviced with beaches”.