What is different about coastal and country contracts

A large share of coastal purchases are holiday homes and future retirement moves, often bought from Melbourne. If you plan to let the place out between visits, the contract review is where we flag the things that change the sums: Victoria’s short stay levy on bookings under 28 days, any owners corporation rules that restrict short stays, and whether the sale is being sold with forward bookings or a letting agreement in place.

Bushfire is the other constant. Much of the coast between Anglesea and Lorne sits inside a Bushfire Management Overlay, and Jan Juc and the edges of Torquay carry it too. The Section 32 must disclose it, and it flows into building standards for any future work, into insurance and sometimes into finance. In Lorne, steep bush blocks add landslip and erosion overlays on top. None of it has to stop a purchase, but you should know before you sign, not after.

The foreshore itself is Crown land managed by the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority. A caravan park site, a boatshed or a licence over foreshore land is not freehold and is a very different transaction from a house, so if that is what you are being offered, talk to us before you pay a deposit.

Inland, the work looks more like Geelong’s growth areas. Torquay North, Winchelsea and Bannockburn all have new estates selling land ahead of title, so off-the-plan contracts, sunset clauses, building envelopes and developer covenants come up every week. Around Winchelsea and Bannockburn we also see rural living blocks with septic systems and bores, and family transfers of farm land between generations.