Mt Hotham holiday site up for grabs as sellers keep cashing in on Covid boom
Mt Hotham has seen an unusually busy ski season this year. Picture: Castran Real Estate
A post-Covid boom in Victoria’s Alpine Shire that added more than $300,000 to the typical home price in the area still has owners cashing in three years after the virus first struck.
And with a cold winter delivering a bumper year for mountain powder lovers, even Mt Hotham resort operators are hitting the slopes with for sale signs.
The mass exodus to regional towns during Melbourne’s lockdowns saw the area become one of the biggest growth regions in the three years to July 2023, with PropTrack records showing house prices shot up 71.7 per cent to hit $790,000.
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A typical house in the Alpine Shire cost just $466,000 at the beginning of the pandemic in April 2020, an uptick that was the fourth largest in the state in that time.
The area includes ski towns surrounding Mt Hotham and Falls Creek such as Harrietville, Bright, Dinner Plain and Ovens, that have been popular among families, tree-changers, cyclists and snow sport aficionados.
Now with less properties on the market and demand for Alpine homes remaining high, locals are taking advantage of an unusually strong ski season at Mt Hotham this year to cash in.
Mt Hotham is popular among snow bunnies this winter. Picture: Chris Hocking.
194 Great Alpine Rd, Harrietville, is up for grabs.
The Harrietville property comes with a coffee van named Dolly.
Castran Real Estate boss John Castran said a landslide that last year closed Bogong High Plains Rd, and as a result the Falls Creek Alpine Resort, had led to an influx of bookings for ski resorts near Mt Hotham for the 2023 winter season.
“People were concerned that they wouldn’t get to Falls Creek for winter so Mt Hotham and Dinner Plain all of a sudden got a big chunk of the bookings,” Mr Castran said.
“(Last weekend) at Mt Hotham you could not get a bed or a car park … in my 40 years of going up there it was as full as I’ve ever seen it.”
The real estate director, who is currently selling a $1.35m development site on Mt Hotham, said there was still strong demand off the back of the pandemic.
“The demand is there, but you can’t make any more Mt Hotham properties because it’s surrounded by national parks,” he said.
“The only way you can get more land is to knock things down.”
The Mt View Holiday Retreat is up for sale and includes a low rope adventure playground.
The property is located at the base of the Mt Hotham ski fields.
The soaring growth recorded by PropTrack in the past three years was sparked by huge demand to be on the mountain.
“Just about everyone wanted to go there … we had about five times the amount of property sold and about four or five years of real estate transactions occur in just two years alone,” Mr Castran said.
He added that buyers were attracted to the beauty of the valley at the base of Mt Hotham, in addition to its ski fields and cycling routes.
Also among those selling up in the area are the owners of the Mt View Holiday Retreat in Harrietville, at the base of the ski fields.
The 25-bedroom accommodation site, which can sleep more than 100 guests, has a $3m asking price.
This includes facilities such as a spacious function hall, dining hall, commercial kitchen, coffee van, half basketball court, a spa, low rope adventure playground, barbecue area and a manager’s residence.
Zirky Real Estate Alpine agent Esther Kay said the owners of the ski resort were selling as part of their long-term plan to “build up the business, sell it and move”.
PropTrack data shows they purchased the site for $610,000 in 2016.
It is popular among large groups such as school camps.
It can sleep more than 100 guests.
A commercial kitchen is also included in the sale.
“There’s certainly a lot of turnover (near Mt Hotham) but not a lot of property on the market,” Ms Kay said.
“It sells a lot quicker on the mountain than down in the valley, which has slowed down a bit compared to a year ago when they were selling within a week.”
The 194 Great Alpine Rd property is popular with large skiing groups and Ms Kay said it was likely to appeal to buyers looking to continue the business.
“It would certainly suit a family with the accommodation set up for the managers or owners,” she added.
Expressions of interest for the site close at 2pm on September 25.
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