Anyone for tennis? Judging by the results of new research by Knight Frank, the answer is a resounding yes, with the market rallying when it came to the sale of super-prime residential properties with tennis courts in 2020.
The Australian Residential Tennis Court Premium, which assessed the sales performance of the nation’s super-prime residential properties with a tennis court, found the volume of sales for these properties in 2020 slammed 2019 figures.
Super-prime residential property is the most desirable and expensive property in a given location, and is generally defined as the top one per cent of each market by value.
Ordinarily, super-prime properties with tennis courts are tightly held nationwide but according to Knight Frank’s figures, these sales spiked in 2020.
Across the market in Australia’s major cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and the Gold Coast, the total value of transactions of super-prime residential sales with tennis courts was $682.8 million in 2020 across 38 transactions, a net gain of 230 per cent on a weak 2019, when there were only 14 transactions.
Michelle Ciesielski, Knight Frank’s Head of Residential Research, said every Australian city analysed had overtaken 2019 sales volume in 2020, with Sydney the ace in the pack.
“In 2020, Sydney saw $436.6 million of tennis court-featured super-prime sales across 22 transactions, although this total volume fell short by 3 per cent of surpassing its highest volume reached in 2018,” Ms Ciesielski said.
“Melbourne was next with $134.6 million worth of sales last year across nine transactions, although its greatest volume was recorded in 2016 at $156.2 million.
“Perth’s super-prime sales market recorded the greatest uptick of 453 per cent in properties with tennis courts over 2020, although that was across only two sales totalling $41.5 million, with the market much smaller than Sydney and Melbourne.
“The Gold Coast lifestyle became more popular through COVID-19 resulting in last year being the only year in the past five to register any super-prime sales accommodating tennis courts, with a volume of $50 million – outperforming both the Brisbane and Perth markets, which recorded $20.1 million and $41.5 million in sales value.”
Based on sales since 2011, the top three suburbs in Australia for super-prime properties with tennis courts were Toorak in Melbourne (39 sales), Bellevue Hill in Sydney (23 sales) and Vaucluse and Mosman, which came equal third with 16 sales.
Knight Frank’s National Head of Residential Shayne Harris said a large number of buyers wanted to make the cross-over to owning properties with tennis courts in 2020 due to COVID-19, which had forced people to stay at home for long periods of time.
“Our research conducted a few months into the pandemic found 66 per cent of global residential buyers listed outdoor space as the top factor to be considered when choosing a home, and we have seen a corresponding rise in interest in super-prime properties with tennis courts,” Ms Harris said.
“Sales numbers for tennis court super-prime properties grew three-fold in 2020 from the 14 sales in 2019 and are still significantly higher than 2018, when there were 25 sales in total and 2017 and 2016, which each had 24 sales.
Australians were also more open to taking up social tennis in 2020, with social restrictions encouraging people to get outdoors and participate non-contact sport.
The Knight Frank research found nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of super-prime residential sales last year were properties with a tennis court and that these properties commanded a price 22 per cent higher, on average, than super-prime properties without tennis courts, with the average price rising by 1.6 per cent to $18 million in 2020.
Ninety-four per cent of super-prime properties with a tennis court that sold in 2020 also had a swimming pool and 11 per cent were on the waterfront with direct access to maritime facilities.
Across Australia’s major cities between 2011 and 2020, the average land area for a super-prime property with a tennis court was 2870sq m, compared to the average land area of 1510sq m for a super-prime property without a tennis court.
