Holiday homes became a luxury that many people couldn’t afford during the peak of the GFC, with many forced to sell their retreats or investments due to major losses on the sharemarket.

This resulted in an oversupply in Australia’s major coastal markets and prices have softened significantly over the past year. 

We’re now starting to see a turnaround due to rising confidence in the Australian economy but sales volumes are still well off the 10-year average, so it’s still a buyers’ market in these popular lifestyle and holiday areas.

Here are some examples of softening prices in Australia’s most desirable locations:

• Byron Bay in NSW – median house price now $608,630, down 7.5%
• Gosford in NSW – median house price now $406,081, down 5.9%
• Coffs Harbour in NSW – median house price now $347,068, down 3%
• The Gold Coast in QLD – median house price now $527,503, down 7.7%
• Sunshine Coast in QLD – median house price now $501,678, down 4.7%
• Cairns in QLD – median house price now $358,362, down 5.3%
• Augusta-Margaret River in WA – median house price now $556,026, down 13%

Why not do some research, identify a few investment locations and spend your summer holidays there.  In major markets you’ll find that most agents work up to Christmas and return to the office fairly early in January so it should be easy to get some information and arrange a few property inspections.