Coronavirus: Buyers escaping to the country and the coast

James and Christiane Duigan are looking to move from Adelaide to Byron Bay for a post-coronavirus lifestyle reset in the country’s wellness capital.

Christiane and James Duigan, with Charlotte, 7, Leonardo, 5, and Rafaella, 2, in Adelaide, are planning to base themselves in Byron Bay. Picture: Mike Burton

Fitness entrepreneurs James and Christiane Duigan are looking to move from Adelaide to Byron Bay for a post-coronavirus lifestyle reset in the country’s wellness capital.

The founder of up-market London gym Bodyism and his businesswoman wife are of the same mind as many others who are desperate for a permanent change of scenery or a holiday ­escape following lockdowns.

“There is a massive fitness and holistic health focus (in Bryon). If I can take my kids for a surf after school, that is the ultimate luxury,” Mr Duigan said.

The demand for change is ­already evident. Data compiled by property ­researcher CoreLogic exclusively for The Australian shows the time it takes to sell a home has held steady since the summer.

The relaxed country lifestyle of the NSW southern highlands attracted the most demand and largest pick-up in selling speed, with the median number of days to make a sale falling from 85 in the first three months of the year to 69 days in the June quarter.

Beachfront locations also experienced a pick-up. Homes on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast sold on average in 45 days in the three months to June, five days quicker than the March quarter. Byron Bay also saw a pick-up of four days to a median 54 days.

CoreLogic head of residential research Eliza Owen said it was too early to see the true impact of coronavirus in leisure markets. “However, days on market have reduced in six of the 10 regions analysed over the June quarter, suggesting some regional areas still have strong appeal,” she said.

Byron Bay buyers agent Matt Barrelle made the sea-change several years ago after a career as a Hollywood film producer. He said demand for property had never been higher, with any price falls recorded early in the pandemic already being negated.

“People are coming from Sydney in droves,” he said. “They are using COVID as a sign to make the move.”

The quickest selling lifestyle spots were the NSW coastal areas of the Illawarra (38 days) and the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie region (39 days), which held steady through the first half of the year.

Victorian lifestyle areas — Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo — did not appear to have benefited in the same way, either taking longer to sell or holding steady.

Within hours of listing a homestead in Moss Vale, in the NSW southern highlands, local agent Ben Olofsen was already fielding calls from hopeful Sydney buyers. He said some premium homes listed through The Agency – Southern Highlands were spending a matter of days on the market. “We are selling about a property a day at the moment and they are moving faster than we can list,” he said.