Lorne short on supply

THE resort town of Lorne, originally called Louttit Bay after a sea captain who transported wood from the area, is on nearly everyone’s list as a holiday or day trip destination.

Domestic overnight visitors are now reported to exceed 500,000 annually with day visitors at a similar number, and international visitors now exceeding 40,000, who generally average 2.5 nights in town.

Lorne is considered a haven by many due to being encircled by the magnificent Otway National Park, with the town growing back up the hill and lookingout over Louttit Bay.

The fairly stagnant resident population of around 1,211 that call Lorne home become the minority on weekends and peak holiday periods, as tourists and holiday home owners swarm to this very popular resort town.

With about 15,000 people occupying the town during January (nearly 20,000 are there from Boxing Day to Pier to Pub weekend), the locals don’t get to reclaim their town until after the Anzac Day long weekend.

The latest Census figures indicate that Lorne has an unoccupied private dwelling rate of 78.1 per cent leaving only 21.9 per cent permanently lived in by locals.

The area, originally a cattle station run by J Herd and then the Mountjoy brothers, was first subdivided about 1869 and the town’s name was then changed to Lorne in honour of the Marquis of Lorne who married the daughter of Queen Victoria in 1870.

The town expanded rapidly with a school, hotel, hall and library being built from 1870 to 1890 and when access to the town was improved through the opening of the Great Ocean Road in 1924, the town soon became a popular camping and tourist destination.

On the back of Lorne’s tourist attraction, large scale developments came to Lorne during the ‘80s, with the Cumberland Resort being built by the Mariner Group.

Today, Lorne’s median house price has busted through six figures to sit at about $1,100,000 after only consistently breaking through the $200,000 median from 1996.

Great Ocean Road Real Estate director Ian Stewart reports that the Lorne market has seen a solid winter and early spring, where the most noticeable characteristic from recent years is the shortage of stock.

“The market has turned a full circle from five years ago when there was just under 100 houses listed with our office, whereas today we have just over 20.

“The forces of supply and demand have seen the pendulum within the market swing from being a pronounced buyers’ market to one more favourable to sellers.

“Through this period, we have recorded a large percentage of our property transactions being to people with existing interests in the Lorne market, and framing a specific direction that needs to be addressed in any selling strategy.

“A great example of this is the new Oceania development, where seven of the eight off the plan sales have been sold to people with existing Lorne interests.”