Horsham real estate veteran on the the growing $1 million home trend

Harcourts Horsham principal Mark Clyne said favourable lending rates, changes in spending habits and more dispensable incomes had created the perfect conditions for a real estate frenzy.

"The younger generation are taking advantage of the government bonuses to buy a project home," he said.

"At the other end of the scale, you have an older generation that are building quality homes with quality fittings with pools and sheds.

"Instead of spending $20,000 on a trip, they are putting that money into the house. Whilst accommodation and the hospitality trade has suffered, the building industry - anything to do with renovations, pools, gardening, landscaping, blinds, curtains or carpets has seemed to blossom."

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With more money being invested into quality homes, Mr Clyne said home prices have naturally grown too.

"It's good for a region to have a healthy real estate sector," he said.

Mr Clyne said what was once considered the Holy Grail of Horsham real estate is slowly becoming an obtainable benchmark for realtors.

"People used to say you'd never sell a house for more than a million dollars in Horsham," he said.

"We've had some sales in excess of $1.1 million now, plus a substantial number in the $800,000 to $1 million now. In the past three months, we've sold several houses over a million.

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"We're about to list a $1.45 million home and we have others entering the market in the next six months."

The real estate veteran said the uptick in high-end homes coming onto the market was bound to happen.

"There has been a lot of houses built with a build cost of more than a million dollars, but they haven't been sold.

"They've been family homes for 20-30 years. The only time they come on the market is when people move for work, divorce or unfortunately die.

"Otherwise, it's homes that were built 10 years ago and they are coming into a healthy market."

Mr Clyne said with high land prices and long wait times on construction times are encouraging people to buy established homes.

"We've seen people buy a block and seek a quote, but because material and labour costs are high, they are choosing to buy an established set-up and wait," he said.

"We're coming off historically low-interest rates too; when I was 18, I was borrowing money at 20%."

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