TURNING TIDE: The view along Bramston Beach.
Source: The Sunday Mail (Qld)
THE dream of owning a beach shack is still alive with a wave of run-down old beachfront homes sitting on the market waiting for the next tide of new owners.
More than a dozen weary beachside houses are for sale along Queensland’s coastline, all north of Rockhampton.
These shacks aren’t the absolute bargain cheapies that once graced the property market but some are not outrageously expensive either. All are generally liveable now but do need modernising.
They have that one prime feature – direct beach access.
Bramston Beach – a small town an hour south of Cairns – has the most shacks for sale with four on the market, priced between $495,000 and $650,000.
One is a basic three-bedder on Evans Rd owned by renowned documentary maker and shark expert Ben Cropp.
Listing agent Richard Pearson, of LJ Hooker Edge Hill – who has two similar homes for sale nearby – says that Bramston Beach is one of the most-picturesque spots along the coast between Townsville and Port Douglas.
“Most Bramston Beach properties escaped the wrath of cyclones Larry and Yasi,” he said.
Kurrimine Beach, near Mission Beach, has the two most-expensive beach shacks on the market. One – a low-set, three-bedder with a triple car park frontage – is on the market for $850,000.
Westcott Real Estate’s Mary Reid said the Hargreave St home had been listed for a few years and needed a total renovation.
She said while it was difficult to sell waterfront homes in Kurrimine Beach – due to the current market and the continuing fallout from cyclones Larry and Yasi – many locals were regularly looking to offload their homes.
“You will find most of the homes along the waterfront are owned by Greek or Italian families and they’ve been in the family a long time, since Kurrimine was just a little tiny village,” she said.
“Now they’re looking to get rid of them because their families have moved away and these places don’t get used any more.”
Cardwell, Toolakea and Saunders Beach north of Townsville, Armstrong Beach near Sarina and Clairview just south of Mackay are the other areas with shacks for sale.
The Clairview home, on Colonial Drive, is the cheapest, at $345,000, and listing agent Greg Brady, of First National Real Estate Sarina, said the besser block home was liveable now.
“You could renovate it but, for what it is, it’s a great little weekender,” he said. “It’s very much in a fishing village – retirees, weekenders and people that just like chilling out and for getting about the world.
“It’s the first place between Brisbane and Bowen that you actually see the ocean while you are travelling along the Bruce Highway.”
Demographer Bernard Salt said beach shack buyers tended to be professionals or tradesmen in their early 40s or mid-50s onwards looking for a lifestyle property.
He said that, despite a recent lull in beachfront home sales, Australians still aspired to own a beach property.
“But the demand rises and falls depending on economic circumstances and, at the moment, people are concerned about job security and so forth, so demand is low,” he said.
“If you are a bold investor, and you were secure in your employment, then you would think this year would be a good time to buy a beach shack.”