Response to Information Request - Final

    “Adamson Town Planning, specialising in providing higher order town planning advice”



         20 of the Homes did not participate in a rental scheme and are used exclusively by
          property owners as private holiday homes.

It is noted that since the application was prepared and the economic assessment report
(Attachment 1) was completed, 7 rather than 6 of the Holiday Homes are being rented out
by property owners for short term accommodation. It is not known what the terms are for the
short term accommodation; however it would be extremely hard to regulate this aspect under
the approval in any event.

It is understood that of the 19 Holiday Homes that form the application:
      four of the homes are currently in the visitor rental pool;
      six of the homes are being privately let; and
      the remaining homes do not currently participate in any visitor or other rental scheme.

The advice provided from Foresight Partners has revealed … an average occupancy rate of
22.8% is quite low, particularly after several years of operation and, were the Beach Road Holiday
Homes purely a commercial venture, it would not be economically viable. However, as all 48
owners pay body corporate fees to maintain common properties and facilities regardless of
occupancy levels achieved (or even their participation in the centrally managed letting pool –
which most do not), the development is not dependent upon achieving a “breakeven” occupancy
level as might apply to other resorts, hotels and motels for survival.

The indicative low occupancy level does not reflect owner use for holidays or use by friends and
relatives under private arrangement, which would probably increase the overall occupancy of
the Holiday Homes, but not (necessarily) the revenue generated.1

The current occupancy rate for the existing dwellings is about 23%, which is slightly higher
than first thought. Despite this, Foresight Partners has advised that …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.2

Further, Foresight Partners has advised that … allowing the option of permanent occupancy in
19 of the 48 Beach Road Holiday Homes could be seen as a potential dis-benefit 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:

     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 centralized 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).

1
    Needs Analysis, Foresight Partners Pty Ltd, November 2016, page 12
2
    Needs Analysis, Foresight Partners Pty Ltd, November 2016, page 13


    15006 – Response to Information Request , November 2016

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