Pandemic hastened Venus Bay property boom

THE recent release of council rate notices which reflected a substantial increase in Venus Bay property valuations draws attention to the shifting nature of the property market in the increasingly popular seaside hamlet.

While COVID played a significant role in driving up Venus Bay property values, and lifted the percentage of buyers moving into the town rather than purchasing holiday properties, those trends began emerging pre-pandemic.

Sales manager at Venus Bay’s Alex Scott and Staff office, Dan Lawrie, believes the arrival of NBN in the area was the initial spark for increased sales there and prompted people to make the move, with some using the improved internet access to work from home.

“In that couple of years prior to COVID, more people started moving down here permanently,” Dan said.

At one point, the agency experienced a near even split between holiday buyers and those shifting to Venus Bay, whereas previously it was heavily in favour of holiday buyers.

However, the urge to flee Melbourne during lockdowns prompted people to buy Venus Bay properties ‘sight unseen’.

“We were sending them photos and doing a video walk through for them,” Dan said.

At that time, the median price of Venus Bay property was around $450,000 he estimates.

It now sits at between $630,000 and $650,000, with Dan suggesting that is on the conservative side.

“If we didn’t have COVID in the mix, it probably would have been five to seven years before we hit those kinds of figures, but they were achieved within about a two-year period,” Dan speculated.

With the reduced sense of urgency about the virus, and a return to greater normality, holiday buyers and holiday renters have re-entered the Venus Bay property market.

Some locals have taken the opportunity to travel extensively and a number of them have made their properties available for holiday rentals, with the local Alex Scott agency continuing to oversee many such properties as it did pre-pandemic.

Whereas holiday rentals in the town were once largely restricted to summer, that has changed over the years with healthy demand even in winter, particularly for places with wood fires.

“Venus Bay has become an all year round market in sales, and particularly holiday rentals,” Dan said, contrasting that with the situation a little over a decade ago.

He observed that while the initial rush to permanently escape Melbourne led to a shortage of available Venus Bay properties to buy, that situation has altered, with “good stock” coming onto the market.

Although many new arrivals in town were prompted to make the shift to break free of Melbourne, Dan said they have come to love the lifestyle of Venus Bay and become keen members of the community.

He is delighted with the blend of new arrivals and familiar older faces.