David and Eleonora Bresnehan had $2 million to spend on their dream holiday escape. They could have bought a Gold Coast apartment, instead, they bought a Riviera motor yacht.
The Melbourne couple now fly to Queensland several times a year to enjoy their floating holiday home, moving it between the Gold Coast and the Whitsundays depending on the season and their mood.
”The key factor in buying a boat over a holiday home was flexibility,” Mr Bresnehan said.
“A Gold Coast unit is about the same price at about $2 million. The motor yacht allows us to travel where we want, when we want, rather than being tied to a specific location.”
It’s a lifestyle choice that’s reshaping both the boating industry and coastal property markets, with new exclusive data revealing just how many wealthy Australians are choosing yachts over real estate.
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d’Albora Marinas, Australia’s largest network of high-end marinas, has revealed that 14.25 per cent of berth holders live more than 100 kilometres away from their boat, treating their vessels as floating holiday homes.
At Victoria Harbour Marina in Melbourne, the figure jumps to 28 per cent, while at Nelson Bay in northern Sydney, 35 out of the 151 vessels were from boat owners who lived elsewhere.
”Demand remains very strong across most of our network, particularly for larger vessels and catamarans,” says d’Albora Managing Director, Julien Pouteau.
“Occupancy is generally above 90 per cent, and in a number of locations we continue to see waitlists, especially in Sydney and South East Queensland.”
On the ground in the Whitsundays, real estate agents are witnessing the shift first-hand.
Principal of Ray White Whitsunday, Mark Beale, says the trend accelerated dramatically after Covid, particularly among middle-class buyers.
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”Certainly since Covid the boat market has gone crazy, a lot of people have decided that life’s too short, let’s buy the boat now rather than buy the investment property,” Mr Beale said.
”For $400,000 you can get a really nice boat right now but for $400,000 you can’t get a really nice property. These people who have never been able to afford a big boat are buying them and holidaying in the marina, using that as a holiday home.”
The change is most pronounced in what Mr Beale calls the “well off middle market.”
”The high end luxury market still see buyers purchasing big boats and properties, but the change in recent years is the well off middle market getting into the larger boats and berths instead of properties,” he said.
“A lot of these people have had health scares or friends and family with health scares and they want to live by the ‘life is too short’ motto.”
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For the Bresnehans, that motto rings true. Last Christmas was spent aboard their yacht at Tangalooma with their two daughters and partners.
”I’m an early riser, and there’s something truly special about starting the day with a quiet cup of tea while the world slowly wakes around me on the motor yacht,” Mrs Bresnehan said.
Mr Bresnehan acknowledged it’s not necessarily cheaper than property ownership, annual berthing costs range from $8,000 to $20,000 for a typical 10 to 12 metre boat.
”It’s not cheaper than owning a holiday house, but the major advantage is the ability to relocate to different parts of Australia whenever we choose,” he said.
”We could’ve looked at buying a unit or home but having a motor yacht means we can take it anywhere, and that’s a lifestyle choice.”
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Originally published as The new Australian dream: Why buyers are choosing floating homes over property
