An old school house where a former Australian prime minister used to teach has been put on the market in regional Tasmania.
While house prices are growing at a slower rate across the country, and in some cases dipping into negative, regional prices on the island state have the highest growth out of all of regional Australia.
"In Hobart we saw housing values rise by 0.3 per cent [last month], so a relatively soft result, but still positive," head of research at CoreLogic, Tim Lawless, said.
"Across regional Tassie we're still seeing stronger conditions, housing values there were up nearly 1 per cent in the month, and nearly 4 per cent higher over the quarter.
"So, it looks like we're still seeing regional housing values across Tasmania stronger than what they are in Hobart, which probably reflects things like affordability which is much more achievable compared to Hobart."
The latest CoreLogic Regional Market Update revealed house values across the country fell by 0.1 per cent last month.
One of the homes entering the market at Perth, in Tasmania's north, is an old school house built in 1860.
The pupils who studied within its brick walls in 1908 would have been taught by a man who would later become the 10th prime minister of Australia, Joseph Lyons.
Mr Lyons was premier of Tasmania before entering federal parliament and went on to become Australia's 6th longest-serving prime minister, co-founding the United Australia Party (the original, not the Clive Palmer party).
Current owner of the school house, Patricia Wilson, said one day she found Mr Lyons's initials carved into a window ledge, although she is not sure if they are actually his.
"He was head teacher for a while, and then after he became prime minister he visited the place, apparently," Mrs Wilson said.
"I love history, so to stumble across this place was good, I've always bought houses with history or old places to do up.
Property representative at Peter Lees Real Estate, Isabo Bibby Davidson, said the four-bedroom property was heritage listed.
"It started its life as a school, back then there wasn't really prep or kindergarten, so they use to teach a variety of ages.
"At a later stage, when there were too many students, they decided to open a second school, that's when it was sold and became a house," Mr Davidson said.
A new school was built in 1996 and this is where the children of the town currently study.
President of the Heritage Protection Society, Lionel Morrell, said there should be more protection for heritage buildings.
"Because people rarely want to live like they did in 1860 and wear mop caps and boil the washing in a large saucepan on an open fire. It's a matter of how you incorporate modern facilities and things like electricity, into an old building," he said.
The school house was designed by architect Peter Mills in what Mr Morrell described as a "gothic revival" style.
"As far as Peter Mills is concerned, he was quite a renowned architect in Launceston and designed many buildings that are still standing here," Mr Morrell said.
Better affordability in the regions
In regional Tasmania, the top five suburbs with the highest value growth in the past year were all in Launceston and the north-east, with Evandale, Waverley, St Marys, Beaconsfield and Stieglitz all making the list.
Mr Lawless said most of the regions were out-performing their capital city counterparts.
"Regional Tassie has stood out a little, just in the sense that housing values have generally been a little bit stronger in the growth rates," he said.
"If we look at all the different regional markets across the country, regional Tasmania has actually recorded the highest annual growth rate of 25.4 per cent, the nearest competitor so to speak was regional New South Wales, up 24 per cent."
Top 10 regional Tasmanian suburbs for house price growth
Rank |
Suburb |
Region |
Median value |
Annual change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Evandale |
Launceston and North East |
$612,948 |
38.5% |
2 |
Waverley |
Launceston and North East |
$423,140 |
37.9% |
3 |
St Marys |
Launceston and North East |
$436,675 |
36.6% |
4 |
Beaconsfield |
Launceston and North East |
$444,897 |
35.1% |
5 |
Stieglitz |
Launceston and North East |
$527,392 |
34.6% |
6 |
Triabunna |
South East |
$596,147 |
34.6% |
7 |
St Leonards |
Launceston and North East |
$571,586 |
33.7% |
8 |
White Beach |
South East |
$576,507 |
33.4% |
9 |
Hawley Beach |
West and North West |
$676,065 |
33.2% |
10 |
Trevalyn |
Launceston and North East |
$666,738 |
33.0% |
Source: CoreLogic Home Value Index May
Mr Lawless said there were signs Tasmania's market was starting to cool.
"For example, in Hobart the peak rate of growth was, back in July last year, at about 8 per cent quarter on quarter, that's now reduced down to just 0.3 per cent over the most recent three months," he said.
"We're also seeing listing numbers slowly starting to rise; in regional Tasmania we're seeing the numbers of listings available to purchase is up about 7 per cent compared to last year, but it's still 45 per cent below the five-year average.
"So, we're still seeing this undersupply of available housing, but demand is starting to be impacted now, which probably means listing numbers will gradually rise, giving buyers more choice and starting to take further heat out of the market.
"I wouldn't be surprised if late this year, or maybe coming into next year, we do actually start to see Tasmania more broadly, moving through weaker conditions, potentially a downturn."
