{"id":521601,"date":"2026-03-06T02:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T02:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/521601\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T02:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T02:58:14","slug":"byron-shires-median-dwelling-value-fell-290000-from-its-peak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/521601\/","title":{"rendered":"Byron shire\u2019s median dwelling value fell $290,000 from its peak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawless said reduced turnover was helping to fuel the market\u2019s recovery. There were 311 homes for sale in Byron Bay in February, down 5 per cent on the previous year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cByron Bay arguably became too expensive, but the fundamentals haven\u2019t changed,\u201d Lawless said. \u201cMany people still want to live there.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Byron Bay\u2019s tight rental vacancy rate of 1 per cent in February was further evidence of the town\u2019s desirability.<\/p>\n

Kim Jones, principal of Kim Jones & Co, moved to Byron Bay in 2021 after selling her family\u2019s real estate business, Di Jones, in Sydney.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been following markets my whole life and I\u2019d never seen a market move like that,\u201d she said of Byron Bay\u2019s pandemic-era boom.<\/p>\n

Those who bought at the top of the market and now wanted to sell were \u201cstuck,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Byron Shire has a median dwelling value of about $1.5 million.Credit: Danielle Smith<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you paid peak prices and haven\u2019t added value to the property, you can\u2019t get your money back. Buyers these days have data knowledge, and they\u2019ll only pay 20 per cent under the peak for those properties.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peak-priced properties aside, Jones said it felt like the Byron Bay market was moving again, thanks in part to an increased volume of buyer enquiries.<\/p>\n

Recent off-market sales, including a rumoured $18 million cash splash<\/a> by Sydney nightlife mogul Justin Hemmes, have sent ripples of excitement through the town.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe high end is performing very well,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThe best properties are selling easily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demand for lower-cost housing was also strong, Jones said, but prospects of new supply were slim.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouncil hasn\u2019t approved any major sub-divisions, and the new apartments in town are for the luxury buyer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones said Byron Bay had been overshadowed in recent years by nearby lifestyle markets such as the Gold Coast, but she expected the market to \u201caccelerate\u201d over the next three to six months.<\/p>\n

Will Phillips, Principal of Sotheby\u2019s International Realty Byron Bay, said buyer interest from Sydney and Melbourne had been robust so far this year.<\/p>\n

He said a rebounding market that remained below its peak was an enticing prospect for those further south.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe demand has always been there. What\u2019s changed is the value proposition. Now, for someone in Sydney or Melbourne, we look like good value. We seem interesting and exciting again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phillips, whose current listings include a five-level mansion<\/a> on exclusive Marine Parade with a $75 million guide, said a fear of missing out was motivating buyers at the very top of Byron Bay\u2019s market.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s a limited number of genuine trophy-style properties in the area. If you want beachfront, there\u2019s only a small number of houses. If you want A-grade hinterland, there\u2019s only a few.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phillips said the town\u2019s \u201cold guard\u201d \u2013 that is, residents who were living in Byron Bay in the decades before its popularity exploded \u2013 were gradually selling their properties.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce those trophy properties get snapped up by people from out of town who can afford them, they\u2019re not going to hit the market again. So, year by year, the number coming to market gets fewer and fewer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the trophy properties, those in like-new condition were selling \u201cvery easily,\u201d largely to buyers for whom money was no object, Phillips said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese people are time-poor. They value time with family, and they have no issue with paying a premium. They don\u2019t want to spend four years dealing with a builder and council.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lawless said reduced turnover was helping to fuel the market\u2019s recovery. There were 311 homes for sale in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-521601","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}