LIVE LIKE A MILLIONAIRE
SAVVY renters are living the high life in some of Geelong’s top-end properties for a fraction of their million dollar pricetags.
A small selection of multimillion dollar houses in Geelong and on the coast are being leased for weekly rental returns way below the value of their estimated mortgage repayment.
The double-storey property at 40 Eastern Beach Rd, Geelong, which sold for $2.2 million in 2014, is available to rent through Maxwell Collins for $850.
Diamond Finance Geelong’s Suzie Rankine said the majority of high-end properties in the Geelong region were either lived in by their owners or used as holiday houses because rental prices could not compare with the repayments required on million dollar-plus purchases.
Ms Rankine said if you were to buy a $2.2 million property, you would need a minimum of $200,000 for a deposit and about $125,000 for stamp duty, and to borrow the rest would mean weekly repayments of $2100. “You can’t expect to receive $2000 a week back on it,” she said.
“I wouldn’t have something like that as a rental in Geelong ... you would definitely want to live there yourself.”
However if you were a renter Ms Rankine said the rental costs per week would be much lower than repayments on a high-end property.
Maxwell Collins, Geelong, residential property manager Matthew Keys said the owners of the Eastern Beach Rd property had been leasing it out with plans to move into the house in a few years.
Mr Keys said high-end rental properties only came up a few times a year.
“These high-end homes are normally purchased to live in straight away or renovate and then move in so renting them is rare,” he said. “A range of renters are attracted to these homes including large families, professional couples, doctors and chief executives.”
He said it depended on the time of year and who was around as to whether high-end rental properties were leased quickly.
“We find they can be snapped up quickly due to the fact the position is so good and they are normally large, beautiful homes,” he said.
Bellarine Property, Barwon Heads director Ben Roberts said he recently had a property, 39 Woodlands Drive, Ocean Grove, available for rent for $1000 per week and for sale with a price guide of $2.5 million, which did not happen often.
Mr Roberts said these types of homes were usually lived in by the owners but there was demand to rent them as well.
“We had two professional couples and one international family moving here for a job relocation looking at renting it,” he said. The property is no longer available for rent.
Ms Rankine said generally in the Geelong region when the purchase price was above $500,000 or rent price was more than $450 per week, people would just buy their own instead of renting.
“If you buy something that is $400,000 you are going to get $400 a week back, once you start to creep up over $600,000 you just don’t get that same return,” she said.
“When we pitch to someone wanting to buy an investment property we tell them they need to have minimum three bedrooms, two bathrooms, two living areas and not a massive backyard.”