Tennis courts proving a drawcard as buyers seek extra open space
Tennis courts are a drawcard in the COVID era as buyers seek extra open space.
The controversial start to the Australian Open has not dampened interest from buyers hankering for a house with a tennis court. Wealthy real estate purchasers are dusting off their old racquets and purchasing prestige homes with tennis courts as part of a global desire for more outdoor space and larger gardens in their primary residence.
The pandemic has delivered a big rise in the popularity of social tennis given it is a non contact sport, translating into a higher volume of sales of properties with their own tennis court.
Sales of super prime properties with tennis courts spiked last year during COVID-19 with nearly $683m spent on 38 sales, up 230 per cent on 2019 when there were only 14 transactions.
Every Australian city analysed in 2020 overtook the 2019 sales volume, with Sydney the strongest-performing market for sales of properties with tennis courts, according to Knight Frank’s Australian Residential Tennis Court premium report by its head of residential research, Michelle Ciesielski.
Melbourne’s Toorak has recorded 39 sales of houses with tennis courts since 2011. In Sydney over the same period there were 23 sales of properties with tennis courts in Bellevue Hill, followed by 16 sales apiece in the Sydney suburbs of Vaucluse and Mosman.
Knight Frank’s research found nearly a quarter of super prime residential sales last year were properties with a tennis court. These properties commanded a 22 per cent higher premium on average than properties without a tennis court, with the average prices rising by 1.6 per cent to $18m last year.
Nearly two-thirds of global residential buyers listed outdoor space and a big garden as the top factor in considering the purchase of their key residence, according to an international Knight Frank survey taken a few months into the pandemic.
“Across Australia’s major cities, the average land area for a super prime property with an outdoor tennis court was 2870sq m based on sales occurring between 2011 and 2020,” the report says.
Sydney dominated the nation’s sale of super prime properties with tennis courts, accounting for 51 per cent of sales between 2011 and 2020, followed by Melbourne with 36 per cent, Brisbane with 7 per cent, Perth at 4 per cent and the Gold Coast at 2 per cent.
“Across these major Australian cities, the total value of transactions of super-prime residential sales with tennis courts was $682.8m in 2020, up 230 per cent on a weak 2019, with each city overtaking the previous year’s volume,” the report said.
Sydney led the nation with $436.6m worth of sales of properties with tennis courts last year, followed by Melbourne with $134.6m worth of sales last year.
Perth’s super-prime sales market recorded the greatest uptick of in properties with tennis court last year, at 453 per cent.
“The Gold Coast lifestyle became more popular through lockdown resulting in 2020 being the only year in the past five to register any super prime sales accommodating tennis courts with a volume of $50m — outperforming both the Brisbane and Perth markets,” Knight Frank said.
In Sydney’s Bellevue Hill, Ray White Double Bay managing director Elliott Placks has three buyers interested in 144 Victoria Road, which has a $21m-$23m price tag. Placks says the property’s tennis court offers space and doubles as extra garden space and a cricket pitch: “For large families in the area that is a big plus.”
The six-bedroom spread is being sold by stockbroker Rob Fiani, who has bought elsewhere for about $34m. Expressions of interest close on February 19. Sotheby’s Michael Pallier is co-agent.
In Brisbane, McGrath’s Alex Jordan is expecting more than $2.9m for a house at Ashgrove with a tennis court. Designed by Bud Brannigan, the property has been developed on a 2013sq m block within walking distance of Mount Coot-tha Forest.
“People are willing to invest in larger blocks of land for privacy and seclusion,” Jordan says.
Jordan says the Trinder Road house is almost inner-city being bordered by Bardon and Paddington “but you’d never guess it given its 2000sq m site”.
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