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Steven Cross
Reports of luxury sales in northern NSW have proven the prestige market has finally made a turn around in the region.
Speaking with Real Estate Business, company director and property sales at Unique Estates Nicolette van Wijngaarden said it had been the busiest her Byron Bay office has ever been.
“We’ve definitely had the best quarter we’ve ever had since we started the business four and a half years ago,” she said.
“I wouldn’t say it’s setting the world on fire yet but I’d certainly say it’s been a lot better than it has been. There are a lot more genuine buyers in the market.”
With a median house price of $700,000, the luxury market in Byron has historically been quite flat. But it all began to turn around late last year, according to Ms van Wijngaarden.
“I think there were a lot of people sitting on their hands waiting to see what would happen locally, nationally and globally, and now feel it’s a good time to buy," she said.
“In the sub-$1 million market, activity picked up from August to September. However, we specialise in the over $1.5 to $2 million market, which started picking up a month later.
“Since then we’ve had six sales in four weeks between $2 and $3.5 million.”
Agent at Raine & Horne Byron Bay Janis Perkins agrees that the luxury market has been flourishing.
“The top end of the market in Byron is definitely on the up, with momentum building and the market having its best quarter in the past few years," she said.
“We’re finding that a lot of our buyers in this price range love the fact Byron isn’t mainstream, and now after some years of flat growth, buyers are surging back into the township to relocate from interstate or overseas, or to buy a Byron holiday home.”
