Don't Hold Your Breath For The Big Fire Sale

The Sunday Age

Sunday January 21, 2007

David Adams

As fires continue to rage around Victoria, David Adams investigates the real-estate outlook for the bush holiday house.

FOR Nita Evans, owning a holiday house in a bushland area such as Halls Gap has been a mixed blessing.

Ms Evans and her husband Cameron, cereal farmers from Marnoo, about 50 kilometres north of Stawell, bought their first holiday house in the area three years ago with the idea of making some extra income by renting it out.

Then came the bushfires that ravaged the Grampians early last year. The house was untouched but the effect on rentals was significant. "Everyone, basically, we had booked in January and February we had to cancel," she says, estimating the couple lost up to 30 per cent of their annual bookings.

But despite the fires, the Evanses, who have three young sons, bought a second holiday property in Halls Gap last November. Rather than deterring them, Ms Evans says, the bushfires probably encouraged them to buy the second property, because of a drop in property prices in the area.

"They say it was once in a lifetime - the size of the fire we had - so we hope to not see it again for a very long time," she says. "It would probably deter some people somewhat, but you can't have the beauty without the tragedy, unfortunately."

Real-estate agents say bushfire risk is not generally foremost in the minds of would-be holiday house buyers in forested areas, but it can become a factor in the aftermath of a bushfire.

Terry Monaghan, director of Monaghan's Real Estate in Stawell, says that after the fires in the Grampians last year, the number of inquiries from holiday house buyers was "reduced by about three quarters".

He says the market has only just started to recover.

"With the combination of the drought, where we've virtually lost our lakes, and the bushfires, where we've lost our mountains, it's been a tough time."

In Victoria's north-east the full impact of this year's bushfires remains to be seen.

Geoff Thomas, director of Mansfield Lifestyle Property, says fires in the surrounding bushland have already affected sales inquiries at his agency, but the response isn't always what one might expect.

A holiday property at Sheepyard Flat on the Howqua River, for example, recently attracted considerable interest even while the road leading to it was closed because of fires - and it has since been sold.

A property at Kevington, south of Jamieson, attracted potential buyers after its "for sale" sign appeared on a television news report on the fires.

"It's just interesting that it has sparked interest in certain properties that I would have thought people would have stayed clear of," Mr Thomas says.

Mark Webster, acting chief executive of Mansfield Shire Council, says he expects the fires to have a short-term impact on holiday property sales in bush areas but the way the fires were fought demonstrated that generally, if people are properly prepared to defend their properties against the fires, "there needn't be concern".

"I guess different people have different thresholds of comfort," he says. "People who are really concerned about these things would probably not be looking at houses with bush close to them and in those sorts of environments."

In other areas affected by this year's fires, agents also report a downturn in inquiries from holiday house buyers.

In Bright, Gerard Gray, a director at Dickins Real Estate, says sales at the agency are well down on the 10 it made in the first two weeks of last January, but its experience in the wake of the alpine fires of early 2003 suggested a rebound in holiday house sales after bush fire.

"We really didn't see an impact as far as sale numbers went for that year of holiday homes," he says.

You might expect bushfires to give rise to a rush of bush holiday house sales, but Mr Gray says it has not been the case.

Of the 60-odd holiday properties on the agency's books in its Bright office, only one owner has brought forward a sale as a result of the fires, he says. "They'd been thinking about (selling) but they thought, 'Look, that's as good a kick-start as I need, let's do something.' "

Mr Monaghan says being aware of the risk of bushfires is just part of living in bush areas.

"It basically comes down to insurance, really," he says. "Like any property owner, you just need to keep your property properly insured and you need to be fire aware. Enhancing your property by growing high inflammable gum trees right up to the gutter line is not a good idea."

© 2007 The Sunday Age

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