Southern Highlands vendors finally meet the market

Buyers, mostly from Sydney, are hitting the NSW Southern Highlands in their droves.

An aerial view of 29 Boronia St at Bowral in NSW,

An influx of buyers, mostly from Sydney, is hitting the NSW Southern Highlands in their droves as vendors reduce their price expectations from the fraught days of the pandemic.

Covid helped drive Southern Highlands land prices up by as much as 43 per cent in the 12 months to July 2022 according to the NSW valuer general, as city dwellers fled to regional areas. Vendors lifted their expectations to match. But now they are meeting the market.

Celebrity fitness guru Michelle Bridges is one such vendor who has dropped the price of her Kangaloon property from an asking price of $7m in February to a guide of $4.15m to $4.4m after failing to sell it at auction earlier this year.

The market is normalising as vendors reduce price expectations according to real estate agents and large Southern Highland landowners.

“The top of the market is fine, it’s the bottom of the market that is hurting just like everywhere else is hurting,” says Kangaloon resident and Sydney property developer Theo Onisforou.

Some friendly residents of the Woodlands Estate, Southern Highlands.

Mr Onisforou, a one-time adviser to the late billionaire Kerry Packer, said The Agency boss Geoff Lucas had achieved a “sensational” price on the recent sale of his Kangaloon property called Sunnybank. The 12ha property, which was sold by Ben Olofsen of The Agency, fetched $9.75m.

The French provincial-style homestead set at the end of a plane tree-lined driveway is surrounded by Annie Wilkes-designed gardens, overlooking a private lake. The original barn has been converted into a separate residence and there are equestrian facilities, seven paddocks and an orchard. Settlement is in September.

“We have seen a bit of an uplift in activity, it’s coming out of Sydney and it’s coming in at the north of the $2m price bracket,” said Mr Olofsen.

“There’s a bit of an uptick. I suspect the vendors have adjusted expectations to more realistic levels.”

Mr Olofsen said most buyers are relocating from Sydney to the Highlands but there were also a lot of smart investors returning to buy into the Southern Highlands.

He said investors had stopped buying during Covid because the Southern Highlands property market had became too hot as people fled capital cities due to the pandemic.

Number1840 Kangaloon Rd, Kangaloon.

“Now we are seeing those investors come back now that we are seeing more realistic expectations, as a result we are seeing some great sales.”

Mr Olofsen was also rumoured to be involved with the $10m purchase of a large acreage in Bowral by Tom and Emma Lane of the Oroton Fashion accessories empire who had relocated from Byron Bay.

He is also understood to be working on a number of large transactions in the region.

Rival Southern Highlands agent Bradley Cocks from Di Jones has also had a couple of successful sales of late.

Mr Cocks has just sold the six-bedroom 49 Eridge Park Rd, Burradoo for more than $4m and a three-bedroom 22 Osborne St, Bundanoon property which went for more than $1.7m.

Mr Cocks is also marketing Woodlands, a 40ha estate at 21 Scarlet St, Mittagong, with a price guide of $10m to $11m.

The estate was developed around 1890 and features a four-bedroom main residence as well as a new kitchen and swimming pool. There’s also a manager’s cottage with two bedrooms and a bathroom. The co-marketing agent is Martin Schiller of Savills.

The elegant interior of Woodlands Estate in the Southern Highlands of NSW.

Mr Cocks says there’s been a realisation that vendors are meeting the market and coming off the previous highs of the pandemic.

“Price and value are meeting in that sweet spot in the middle … and there’s a lot more deals being done,” said Mr Cocks, adding that he is just about to exchange on a property in Moss Vale.

Drew Lindsay agent Samuel Lindsay believes the market is quite solid.

“I would describe it as patchy but quite healthy in that vendor expectations are becoming more aligned with buyers.

“The market has been flat for quite a while. It’s bottomed out. It’s a good time to buy.

“But of course there are some exceptions to the rule. There’s some properties that are only on the market for a few weeks, others longer. We get buyers nationally and internationally.

“I have had an international buyer today on a property that’s been on the market for a while.

“That mid- top end is less affected than the rest. Sydney initially comprised the bulk of buyers and then it’s more national buyers and then international buyers. And then there’s (also) local people upsizing and downsizing.”

Mr Lindsay is marketing 29 Boronia St, Bowral with a price guide of $9m to $10m. Set on 2ha and overlooking the Bowral township and Mt Gibraltar, and with private access to the golf course, the property has five bedrooms, three bathrooms, gym and a study.

Meanwhile, Knight Frank agent Nathan Berlyn is calling for expressions of interest in Wombat Hollow, fronting 300 Kirkland Rd, East Kangaloon.

Set on 8ha, the residential estate includes a four-bedroom house as well as a one bedroom cottage plus four converted sheds. Renovated in 2017, the property has horse paddocks, an orchard and vegetable garden and is 20 minutes from Bowral.