Aireys Inlet News

Extremely strong activity in recent weeks has agents talking about the ‘good old days’.

Just this week our agency has received offers from three parties on the one property which has only been on the market for around a week. The end result to the vendor being a sale well above the asking price. Clear evidence of the strength of the market.

In another case this week, we have sold a house in Aireys Inlet within 1% of the asking price after only a short time on the market. In yet another case this week, we have sold a 1.5 acre block within 1% of the asking price before the property reached the market, after being sold off our database to an interested party.

All this is more evidence of the bounce-back our market is experiencing. Limited stock will be our problem over the coming weeks as we try and keep up with almost frantic buyer demand.

With buyer confidence on the way back up and a track record of high end transactions our agency offers the top end of the market, unsurpassed service and recorded achievements. Listed below are the top 5 record sales of each town along the coast:
APOLLO BAY REAL ESTATE
1. $2.85M – Wongarra
2. $2.4M – Moonlight Head
3. $2.2M – Marengo
4. $1.8M – Skenes Creek
5. $1.145M – Marengo
LORNE REAL ESTATE
1. $3.65M – Smith Street
2. $2.9M – Mountjoy Parade
3. $2.86M – Ocean Road South
4. $2M – Mountjoy Parade
5. $1.95M – Hall Street
AIREYS INLET REAL ESTATE
1. $2.67M – Banool Road, Fairhaven
2. $2.1M – Banool Road, Fairhaven
3. $1.9M – Great Ocean Road, Eastern View
4. $1.7M – Banool Road, Fairhaven
5. $1.45M – Great Ocean Road, Eastern View

The key to the agency’s success is that we get inside the heart of the owner as to why they love their properties and where their favourite spots are. Also, having a long and established reputation and links with the right connections, clubs and associations and our ongoing support of charity, leaves us with the right people and connections to place the property to the market through a long relationship building foundation.

Steve Ryan Photography

GOLD SPONSORS – GREAT OCEAN ROAD REAL ESTATE
Annual Golf week is one of the Torquay Golf Club’s biggest events for the year. Great Ocean Road Real Estate was privileged to be involved as a major sponsor this year and whilst the Torquay team did not fare well in the prizes, their efforts were gallant in wintry conditions at the Great Ocean Road Real Estate Challenge held on Wednesday October 7th.

You should see the amazing Lorne Sculpture Exhibition on the Lorne foreshore and coastal walk! The exhibit runs from Saturday 17th October through to Sunday 8th November and well worth the trip to see for your self. We are proud to be sponsoring such fantastic event.
The sculptures are large scale and from a variety of prominent artists and emerging talents. For those of you that have personally met me over the past eight years you are probably having a chuckle to yourself, thinking what would Michael know about art? The biggest challenge I had last night was stopping Charlie, my Jack Russell Terrier “marking his territory” along the sculpture route.

More evidence this week of the local market waking from its recent slumber.

Activity on vacant land has been very limited in recent times, however we have sold two blocks this week in the Aireys Inlet/Fairhaven area. One of these was sold within days of listing and was sold off our database to a buyer within 3% of the asking price. No marketing costs were incurred and all with a minimum of fuss to all concerned.

With National Park bordering us on one side, and the Southern Ocean on the other, land prices should continue to increase over time as the old law of ‘Supply and Demand’ proves itself.

As we have seen this year, the share market goes up and down, however coastal property remains a very safe bet historically.

We are 100% committed to focusing more buyers to our properties than any other Victorian coastal agency with the following initiatives to maximise and expose every opportunity that may exist in the marketplace.

• Of course our website, www.greatoceanroadrealestate.com.au , that you are reading this on. Plus, all of the following websites:
o www.realestate.com.au
o www.domain.com.au
o www.homehound.com.au
o www.justlisted.com.au
o www.myhome.com.au
o www.maps.google.com.au which is the first point of reference for 70-75% of property searches (Sept 2009) combined with our Google ranking at Number 1 for the words ‘Apollo Bay real estate’
• Our Surf Coast Times unique property guide lift out, ‘Coastal Views’, offering a weekly distribution of 35,000 copies with that number increasing over the summer and Easter holiday periods plus letterbox drops in Torquay, Jan Juc, Ocean Grove, Barwon Heads and Anglesea
• Print media including regular advertising in The Age in Saturday’s Domain with preferred positioning in the Coast & Country section. Saturday’s readership is 975,000 people every week with 98,000 people looking to buy real estate within the next 12 months (source: Roy Morgan Research, June 2007)
• Annual Radio advertising on 3AW & Magic 1278
• Annual TV advertising in peak viewing times covering country Victoria on WIN TV
• Unique marketing packages individually tailored to suit each and every property
• An extensive coastal database ranging from Torquay to Johanna of more than 13,000 people… and growing!

And we can prove through statistics that more buyers buy with us, with our Vendors again maximising their selling price and opportunity with the market.

The siren of the AFL Grand Final sends a significant message to the coast.

* The 2009 AFL premiership cup again sits proudly in Geelong.
* The third term school holidays vacating are almost complete.
* Visitations and focus of local owners, absentee owners, would-be owners and visitors alike is again re-aligned to “our backyard”.

Many coastal traders report that their businesses are re-born with the seasonal return of Great Ocean Road Holiday coastal lovers. Expectations of record numbers are buoyant as the Geelong bypass puts a new definition of travel time and stress free motoring to coastal havens of Torquay, Anglesea, Aireys Inlet, Lorne and Apollo Bay. A trend that is also being reinforced by the coastal portals of our accommodation businesses.

What about real estate and coastal property values many will ask?

According to rpdata.com.au (ASX: RPX) property database, which is Australia’s largest and includes over 170,000 sales during the first eight months of 2009, home values in Australia rose by an exceptional 1.9 per cent during the month of August. This brings cumulative capital growth in the first eight months of 2009 to a better than expected 7.9 per cent. Leading the recovery through 2009 has been Melbourne with 11.6 per cent capital gain year to date in 2009.

From an interested observers perspective this increased market activity is another great sign for “our backyard”. Historically the coastal market has followed the trend of the “big smoke” albeit with a time delay of approximately 6 months prior to our seasonal cycle.

On average across our core business regions 57.7% of homes are owned by absentee property owners (i.e. second home owners).

Torquay 32.16%

Aireys Inlet 68.29%

Lorne 72.5%

Apollo Bay 57.72%

With our Melbourne Metropolitan and country visitors set to revisit there are a number of positives that reinforce our optimism for the coming year.

1. The brilliant Geelong bypass.
2. The added equity that many Melbourne Metropolitan property owners have build in their home.
3. Affordable interest rates for those who have income and cash flow security.
4. Numerous local projects and initiatives across the Surfcoast and Colac Otway Shire.

In summary there appears no better time to be entering or upgrading in our exciting coastal market.

Steve Ryan Photography