Response to Information Request - Final

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




     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).

     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.3

Given the above, it is suggested that if all of the 19 Holiday Homes were to be removed from
the letting pool, this would be of benefit to the remaining Holiday Homes in the letting pool
in terms of the demand for visitor accommodation and a reduced supply.

It should be noted that despite the current approval being purely for visitor accommodation
and operating for a number of years, only about half of the Holiday Homes are available for
holiday letting. Therefore, it is evident that despite the restriction placed on the current
approval to prevent permanent occupancy of the Holiday Homes, it would appear that only
about half of the Holiday Homes are being used for the intended purpose. Further, these
Holiday Homes have a vacancy rate of about 77%, which is significant.

The very low and uneconomic vacancy levels being achieved after several years of operation
suggests that the Holiday Homes cater for a very thin portion of the market. To that end, it is
evident that the development on the land has not worked as expected, with the market on the
North Shore being more suited to budget accommodation, such as cabins, camping and
caravans. The current Holiday Homes do not provide for budget accommodation and in fact
represent a use (Visitor Accommodation – Type 4 Conventional), which is not supported under
the current planning scheme.

With respect to the last dot point (above), it is highly likely that some of the current owners
have another place of residency and therefore could opt to spilt there time between the
Holiday Homes and their primary place of residence. Consequently, the restricted use of the
Holiday Homes for purely visitor accommodation is not achieving the outcome sought under
the planning scheme at this location. This is because of the nature and type of use that has
been constructed on land, not being for budget accommodation, and being removed from
the prime holiday locations of Noosa Heads and Noosaville and having restricted access.

Foresight Partners has also advised that … the Beach Road Holiday Homes cater to the higher
end of the market and, for the majority of Noosa North Shore’s holiday makers, are not an

3
    Needs Analysis, Foresight Partners Pty Ltd, November 2016, page 13


    15006 – Response to Information Request , November 2016

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