Facing a state of summer daze: Christmas party for Palm Beach as Queensland sweats on border reopening
Cashed-up southerners are parting with up to $50,000 for a week in a luxury Palm Beach beachfront home, as the Sunshine Coast remains off limits.
Come the festive season, holiday home owners in Sydney’s beachfront Palm Beach as well as the posher parts of the NSW Central Coast, can expect a bumper holiday letting season for their luxury waterfront houses. But further north, Noosa owners may suffer from a lack of bookings as cashed-up southerners who traditionally descend on the Sunshine Coast for their annual $20,000 Christmas splurge shy away from a Queensland Christmas.
Niche Holidays Noosa managing director Sue Willis expects “an amazing season” if the state borders are open.
“But we fear, and this is industry wide across Queensland if we have to achieve this 90 per cent vaccination rate, which is completely unrealistic, the borders will not be open to NSW and Victoria and we won’t have that holiday trade as a result,” Ms Willis said.
“There is a lot of nervousness across the industry and it’s preventing people from booking ahead.”
In Sydney, LJ Hooker Palm Beach owner David Edwards has lost three months of holiday bookings thanks to the state government lockdowns. But he has a record number of bookings for Palm Beach holiday houses this summer. He reckons everyone is banking on restrictions being much freer over summer.
Over Christmas, holidaymakers are paying anything from $5000 to $50,000 for one week’s stay in a luxury beachfront home in Palm Beach, he said.
“Covid has had a positive affect on the sales side of the market and had a positive affect on select boutique holiday rentals,” Mr Edwards said.
“I had no rental holiday leasing income for three months June, July and August. It all had to be refunded or the dates changed. But this will be a good Christmas,” he said, adding the Palm Beach holiday home owners also need the income because land tax and council rates have not stopped.
“The NSW government has been far more pragmatic and economic about restrictions than other states,” said Mr Edwards, who traditionally rents out 150-200 properties in Palm Beach over Christmas.
“(But) Queensland is a state that closes down for one Covid case … the Queensland government is making it harder for the tourism industry all around.”
Further north, the Green Island Resort off Cairns has closed down due to a lack of tourists from Sydney and Melbourne and Mr Edwards notes that the question of whether there will be flights to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast come Christmas-time is “a mess”.
For this festive season he has acquired more properties to rent out to holidaymakers in Palm Beach but he admits some homes will not be available this holiday season because their owners can’t travel confidently offshore.
In Noosa there are scores of holiday homes – for all budgets – still available over Christmas, which is unheard of in previous years.
Prospective holidaymakers particularly from Sydney and Melbourne are concerned over flights and whether Queensland will be shut down again. They are also tired of trying to reclaim airline and holiday home deposits with many asked to choose new dates to holiday often at a higher price.
Noosa’s accommodation is traditionally 100 per cent full during school holidays and at Christmas, Ms Willis said. This year because of the lockdowns in NSW and Victoria it is just 40 per cent occupied.
“There are a lot of little supporting industry businesses, the restaurants and retailers and tradespeople who look after the holiday houses, on which the economic impact is starting to permeate,” she said.
“There are businesses that can’t hang on anymore and are giving up. For the first time there is a real feeling of concern.”
Of the 240 Noosa holiday houses Niche manages, about 10 per cent are presently full with NSW and Victorian residents who don’t want to or can’t return home to their state. They are paying an average of $30,000 a week.
Ms Willis said the remaining 90 per cent of the luxury holiday homes on her books are 30-40 per cent occupied, whereas during a normal school holiday period they would be 100 per cent leased. Outside of school holidays she enjoys 70 per cent occupancies.
“We are still fully booked for Christmas from the beginning of the school holidays … (but) we won’t know the impacts of Christmas until November,” she said.
But on the NSW Central Coast, things are brighter with a mix of Sydneysiders and western NSW farmers booking out dozens of properties for the Christmas holidays as the likelihood of a lockdown eases.
Belle Escapes, which has a portfolio of around 70 luxe holiday home rentals is already about 80 per cent full over the two-week Christmas and New Year period.
Killcare, Avoca, Copacabana and Terrigal properties are fully booked over Christmas and there are limited homes available in Hardys Bay, Wamberal, Umina Beach and Forresters Beach, including Bluewater, a $1900 a night four-bedroom house on the beach at Forresters.
“There has been very strong demand for luxurious beach houses on the Coast this summer and holidaymakers should book now if they don’t want to miss out,” Belle Escapes Central Coast general manager Ryan South said.
“While October and November bookings have been a bit tentative as we wait for the official freedom day, the summer holidays are far enough away that people have felt confident booking a much-needed getaway over the Christmas and New Year period,” Mr South said, adding that some bookings are for up to a fortnight.
Belle Escapes holiday homes cost between $600 a night and $2500 a night over summer and most cater for six to 10 guests.
“This summer, most of our guests are coming up from Sydney but there are also some farmers from out west coming to the beach for Christmas,” Mr South said.