Electric vehicles charge up value

ELECTRIC cars could signal the death of noisy neighbourhoods, increasing the value of properties once shunned for being on a busy road.

Sales of electric vehicles in Australia have tripled from 6900 in 2020 to 20,665 in 2021, with cars, vans, trucks, utes and buses all offering electric alternatives, according to the Electric Vehicle Council.

Residential developers are on board, with many new projects offering charging points and even EV share vehicles.

Terrace homes at West End, a luxury apartment complex at Main Beach, a townhouse complex at Marsden and a residential tower at Maroochydore will all feature EV charging stations.

Ray White New Farm principal Matt Lancashire said noisy roads could be poisonous for property values, but “no go” roads would likely become more palatable once quieter vehicles hit the roads.

“If you take away the noise factor, suddenly there is a bigger buyer pool who won’t have noise as a concern,” he said. “While I doubt values will double, just having more buyers undeterred by noise will be a plus for values.”

Apollo Auctions director Justin Nickerson said noise and safety were the two most common issues for buyers.

“These are the things that people quote to us a lot when looking at a main road,” he said. “So electric cars will help with the noise and pollution, and will assist with noise being less of a barrier for buyers. But whether that alleviates concerns around safety remains to be seen.”

A three-bedroom house with a pool on busy Moggill Rd at Kenmore recently sold for $825,000, while a smaller three-bedroom house with no pool nearby sold for $900,000.

On busy Samford Rd, a three-bedroom house on 607sq m sold for $706,000 in June while a nearby two-bedder on 405sq m sold for $900,000 in March.

On the Gold Coast, Adam Phillis, of Phillis Real Estate, said buyers were hesitant to buy in suburbs along the path of the pending Coomera Connector major road upgrade.

The planned superhighway is a huge infrastructure boost to the northern Gold Coast, stretching 45km from Nerang to Logan and easing congestion on the M1.

But Mr Phillis said the potential noise had a big impact on house sales within a riverfront acreage estate close to the new road in Helensvale.

“Nine times out of 10, the feedback is about the road noise, so if we had electric cars, that concern would be taken out of the equation and I’d expect prices to increase by up to 30 or 40 per cent,” he said.

A luxurious home on 2035sq m at 10 River Cove Pl was listed for $3.5m, but recently sold for just over $3m.