Hobart accommodation crisis sees sales boom in outer suburbs

With skyrocketing rents and house prices in Hobart, there are luckily still a few hidden gems where prices are still affordable for young families. SEE WHERE THEY ARE >>

Damita Lamont

2 min read

October 23, 2021 - 5:00AM

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Tasmania

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NESTLED among leafy green surrounds and rolling hillsides is a Grove family home that has given Cloe Smith and her children the fresh start they needed.

After juggling three young children as a single mother, full-time work and an impossibly priced rental market for two years, Ms Smith managed to save enough money to purchase her family a forever home in September.

With skyrocketing rents and house prices in Hobart, Ms Smith is grateful to be living in the peaceful Huon Valley where the prices are still fairly affordable.

>> Where you can buy for under $500k — see list at bottom

Cloe Smith with daughters Maggie 5 and Matilda 7 at home in Grove. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“It feels bittersweet, we have had to sacrifice so much to get here but I am so happy and so proud to be in the market and to create that security for my children,” she said.

Ms Smith used to live in a modern, four-bedroom home in Glen Huon which was built in 2013 and had mortgage repayments of $400 per week including car repayments.

She sadly endured a devastating marriage break-up and found herself in the rental market, where she had to pay rents of $330 and later $360.

“It had just gotten ridiculous with the prices and I thought if I was paying that much it made more sense to buy a home if I could,” she said.

Since her former Glen Huon home was built the Huon Valley property market has rapidly increased in price, so mortgage repayments on her significantly smaller and older 1970s Grove home are $500 per week.

“It is a very old, dated, ex-rental property with a tiny bathroom and the little kids are sharing bedrooms so it is a bit different,” Ms Smith said.

“But I am so very, very proud as it’s my first home after regrouping and I really needed a stable home for us after the separation.”

Ms Smith, who is also in sales at TPR Property Group in Huonville, said the median house price in Grove from Core Logic data was $618,000, which was an increase of 20.6 per cent over the past six months.

She encouraged others who were trying to get onto the property ladder to consider the Huon Valley.

“There are lots of improvements happening here with roads and highways, they have great schools and shops so I rarely need to travel into Hobart,” she said.

Ms Smith admitted that despite the more affordable prices in the area, she still had to make sacrifices to pay for her home.

“We have had to change our lifestyle so we don’t have all those fancy bits and bobs we are used to,” she said.

“The majority of my wages goes into the mortgage.

“We have also had to sacrifice our family time as I have had to work full-time which means my youngest, who is 18 months old, is in daycare and my other kids have after-school care, but there is just no other option for us.”