Byron Bay’s Bower Hotel sets ‘record price’
The lack of hip hotels in Byron Bay, the iconic hippy township dominating northern NSW, coupled with a spike in the drive tourism market, has sealed the first hotel sale on the back of the pandemic.
The newly completed Bower Hotel on Byron’s Bangalow Road, has just sold for around $18 million according to locals, to a Gold Coast based investor and hospitality veteran.
Selling agent CBRE’s Wayne Bunz would not comment on the actual price paid but he said the deal was a record price for a hotel in the Byron region.
Developed by two Byron locals, The Bower features 28 guest rooms on nearly 4500sqm and featured in the prestigious Conde Nast Traveller ‘Hot List 2018.’
“Clearly Byron has been a great beneficiary of the drive market in these unprecedented times, people are very keen because of the lock downs to escape to the coast and get to Byron, Noosa, and the Gold Coast,” said Mr Bunz. “These towns will be the beneficiaries.”
“We are seeing a substantial increase from overseas investors and Australians looking to invest in the leisure sector, because they know it is going to be a beneficiary over the next few years because people can’t go overseas, so coastal, warm locations will be strongly in demand,” said Bunz.
“I imagine at Christmastime you won’t be able to get a place to stay on the coast … once we come through this pandemic the Australian leisure sector will be a huge beneficiary.”
The newly completed Bower Hotel on Byron’s Bangalow Road, has just sold for around $18 million according to locals, to a Gold Coast based investor and hospitality veteran.
The buyer does not wish to be named but is well known across the hospitality industry given he is a former owner of the Greenmount Resort on the Gold Coast.
The Bower is the latest in a slew of Byron Bay hotel transactions, with more than $170 million in properties changing hands in the past 12 months, including the $42 million sale of the Byron at Byron.
Bunz said The Bower marketing campaign attracted global interest, specifically from investors in the United States, the Arab Emirates and the Asia Pacific region.
“While Australia has long been viewed as a politically and economically safe investment destination, there has been an added focus in recent months on the country’s response to COVID-19,” Bunz said.
“This is the first Australian hotel sale to have been negotiated and exchanged during the pandemic period, highlighting continued confidence in leisure and boutique hotel investment opportunities.”
Co selling agent Hayley Manvell said investor demand in the leisure sector of the hotel market has been buoyed by the potential transfer of the 10 million Australian outbound visitors last year to the domestic visitor market.
“Australia’s regional and leisure hotels are leading the recovery, particularly those hotels in popular ‘drive markets’ such as the Gold Coast and Byron Bay,” she said.
Manvell said this trend was expected to continue in the short to medium term.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
