2017-04-11 Planning & Environment Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA    11 APRIL 2017




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PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                      11 APRIL 2017

                                                                                         Foresight
                                                                                            partnerspetyttd

                 The application to allow 19 of the 48 houses the option of permanent occupancy, if
                 approved, will have benefits and disbenefits with respect to Noosa North Shore’s
                 accommodation market.
                 The 19 houses (or even all 48 houses) are too small to have any material impact upon
                 Noosa’s broader visitor accommodation mix and markets.

                 3.1      Noosa North Shore Accommodation Market Mix Implications
                 Allowing the option of permanent occupancy in 19 of the 48 Beach Road Holiday Homes
                 could be seen as a potential disbenefit for Noosa North Shore’s collective pool of
                 accommodation. However, in our opinion, this would be of a minor nature with little or no
                 risk to the area’s overall visitor appeal and marketability for a number of reasons:
                     e  Allowing the option of permanent occupancy does not necessarily remove the
                        subject houses from the central letting pool or preclude private letting. The owners
                        of five houses forming part of the application currently participate in the centralised
                        letting pool and four let out their properties privately, and they may well continue to
                        do so for all or part of the year. Similarly, some of the ten properties that currently
                        are “private use only’ could make their houses available in response to a better
                        leasing environment (in response to a reduction in supply).

                     e  The very low and uneconomic vacancy levels being achieved by properties available
                        for letting, especially after several years of operation, suggest that the Beach Road
                        Holiday Homes cater to a thin market in which supply significantly exceeds demand
                        in all but a few weeks or months of the year. A reduction in supply is likely to benefit
                        the majority of properties which remain available for short term letting, either in the
                        centralised letting pool or private lettings, by boosting their occupancy levels (and
                        returns).

                     e  The option of permanent occupancy could allow some owners, particularly retirees,
                        to split their time between homes, as occurs in several of Queensland’s coastal
                        areas. That is, they may spend winter months or some other part of the year in
                        Noosa North Shore and the rest of the time at their principal place of residence or
                        traveling (or vice versa). The house may be still be available for letting, but for only
                        part of the year or season. A limited number of Beach Road Holiday Homes owners
                        may already be living under this arrangement, which could explain the absence of
                        some properties from the rental pool.
                 Most of Noosa North Shore’s visitor accommodation is geared to the budget end of the
                 visitor market, being comprised of self-contained units and cottages, caravan sites
                 (powered and unpowered) and campsites. This accommodation appears to be consistently
                 well utilised, with full or near-full occupancy common during school and other holiday
                 periods.

                   EE
                 Noosa North Shore Needs Assessment
                 16017 Rev 0 Draft
                 11 November 2016

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