Cashed up Baby Boomers could be set to turn a handful of Geelong region coastal hamlets into property price boom towns.
With the entire Boomer generation able to access their super from next year, retirement moves have been tipped for an increase in 2025.
New research from Finder shows downsizers are already homing in on Portarlington, Point Lonsdale, Paynesville, Mornington, and Lorne along the state’s coastline, with more than a third of each suburb’s population aged 65-plus.
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The four-bedroom home fronting Santa Casa Beach at 5/43 Flinders St, Queenscliff, is listed with $3.8m to $4.15m price hopes in an expressions of interest campaign closing November 15.
The research firm analysed Australian Bureau of Statistics data combining the percentage of people in every suburb who are aged 65 with the percentage of people who lived at another address a year ago to estimate the popularity of a suburb among Victorian downsizers.
McGrath Estate Agent’s chief executive John McGrath said by next year, he was expecting many Baby Boomers to make a sea-change, selling suburban homes and taking big budgets to comparatively affordable coastal towns “with a steady price uplift inevitable in the most popular locations”.
“The allure of the coastal azure is one of the trends we explore this year,” Mr McGrath said in the real estate agency’s 2025 report.
“The Baby Boomers hold half of Australia’s private wealth, so when a lot of them are buying and selling at the same time, it has the power to move markets.”
Qudos Portarlington is a 58-property apartment development on Newcombe St where buyers are encouraged to “downsize to a coastal dream”.
Finder head of consumer research Graham Cooke said the beachside destinations identified were popular for downsizers now, which would probably continue in the future and potential lead to price rises down the track.
“In a lot of cases, (downsizers) have paid off their mortgage on a bigger house … which means they have more potential to puff up the housing prices in those areas,” Mr Cooke said.
He added that anywhere that had a high population of retirees who were downsizing lends itself to robust property prices moving forward; it was unlikely someone over the age of 65 was going to be paying for a home with a mortgage.
“They will generally be buying their houses outright … so they’ll have more money to play with,” he said.
The three-bedroom residence at 64 Victoria St, Rippleside was built by J. Cole Constructions in collaboration with Lachlan Shepherd Architects, offers an enviable lifestyle close to waterfront attractions. It’s listed for sale from $1.7m to $1.8m.
There has been a lull in coastal property markets this year, but these towns have locked in big gains over the past five yeas, including almost $300,000 on the median house price at Portarlington, according to PropTrack data.
There are other popular downsizing hot spots across Geelong where people are seeking to lock in smaller properties with big lifestyle benefits they already enjoy.
Big waterfront developments in Rippleside and central Geelong are tailoring projects to the demographic, while smaller townhouse projects are becoming more commonplace in traditional suburbs such as Newtown and Highton.
Gartland, Geelong agent Will Ainsworth said local downsizers tend to stay in the same area to enjoy the amenities they’re used to.
The four-bedroom house at 6 Helen St, Rippleside, occupies a 518sqm block just metres from the Corio Bay foreshore. It’s listed for sale from $1.425m to $1.525m.
“They obviously want a smaller, low maintenance block of land and want to be able to walk everywhere,” he said.
Shopping hubs such as Highton Village, where there is already a lot of new development, are an obvious targets.
“They want to have a townhouse close to Highton Village, where they can still be in the suburb they’re comfortable with, but be able to head up to Queensland for three months of the year, or take the caravan away.
“A lot of Melbourne people coming down are retirees, and they want to buy in similar suburbs. They might have kids and grandkids down here, and they want to be able to be close to them.”
With Peter Farago
The post Geelong spots that are hot for cashed up Baby Boomers appeared first on realestate.com.au.
