Advantage, home owners: A tennis court can 'easily add another $200,000 to the price'
After a record-smashing Australian Open, tennis is enjoying a resurgence of popularity throughout the country, and homes with their own tennis courts are proving the big winners.
The first Grand Slam of the year saw well over 800,000 people physically come through the gates and millions more watch on TV, while tennis participation rates have soared by 30 per cent, compared to pre-pandemic times.
“We’ve definitely seen a halo effect around this year’s Australian Open, all around Australia,” says Tony Larner, chief tennis officer at Tennis Australia. “There’s been a big uptick in people picking up racquets; 14 per cent in the past 12 months alone.
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“A lot of people are interested in tennis and it plays a big role in our cultural history in both our cities and our regional areas, and the Australian Open always highlights that for the first few months of the year.”
However, while there are more clubs with multiple courts around, that’s also been accompanied by a drop in the number of tennis courts at people’s homes, with land values rising, more high-density living squeezing block sizes and sub-division. As a result, those houses with tennis courts tend to be more prized, and highly valued, than ever before.
New Domain research has found that the proportion of sales in Sydney of houses with tennis courts is now just 0.53 per cent, compared to the much larger 0.8 per cent in 2020. At the same time, the search ranking for the term “tennis court” has risen from the 32nd most popular in 2019 to number 22 in 2022.
That scarcity of supply and rising demand is reflected in their value with, again in Sydney, the median price of a house with a court standing at $2.881 million last year, compared to $1.355 million without. Its median land size obviously tends to be bigger too, at 1168 square metres, as against 608 square metres.
The upper north shore is the epicentre of homes with courts, with “tennis court” the term most searched for on Domain in the suburbs Gordon, Pymble, Killara, Lindfield and Turramurra.
“A tennis court now can absolutely add a lot of value to homes,” says Shaun Thomas, NSW and ACT director at valuers Herron Todd White. “It’s hard to put an exact figure on it but if it’s in good condition or the house has enough space to put one in, that could definitely easily add another $200,000 to the price.
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“There are parts of Sydney where they’re more common, like the upper north shore where some prestige properties are almost expected to have them. But they shouldn’t dominate the yard. The land size should be big enough to accommodate them comfortably.”
One of the best homes with a tennis court currently on the market is at 42 McIntosh Street in Gordon. The current owners of the six-bedroom, 1922-built house have lived there for 21 years.
“Its tennis court is the highest grade synthetic grass with four metres behind the baseline,” says agent Glenn Curran of The Agency North. “A court like that is a highly desirable amenity, even if you don’t have a tennis player in the family.
“Kids can play all sorts of ball sports there in safety, like soccer, basketball, or even use the space to ride their bikes around. Or families can play tennis and have their friends over, so there’s a great entertainment factor.”
Owner, business consultant Ian Riley, 59, says it’s indeed been a fabulous addition to the house. Although his children, aged 13, 11 and 7 when they all moved in, didn’t play tennis, they immediately took it up and became school champions.
“The kids lived up there on the court,” he says. “We used it for tennis, basketball, badminton, the chasing game brandy, a family tennis tournament every Christmas. Because it was built into a rock slab, it has a hitting wall, too which is good. It added another dimension to the home, and really became a part of our lives.”
Another house for sale with a court is in nearby Killara, at 29 Spencer Road. Selling agent Jing Peng of LJ Hooker Gordon thinks the sunken court is a great feature of the Federation-style home, with five bedrooms, a pool and landscaped grounds.
“A tennis court offers a great lifestyle for kids and the whole family,” she says. “It’s also a space of level land for everyone to enjoy, where kids can run around safely. Unlike a pool, a court tends to be low maintenance too.”
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The Blue Mountains also has a number of houses with courts, like the 11-bedroom property at 179-181 Wentworth Street, Blackheath, with its newly-resurfaced championship version.
Built in 1888, the house is licensed to hold weddings and other functions and started out as a guesthouse. Now, it could quite easily be used as a large family home, or with parts rented out on a short-term leasing platform, with tennis as the added extra.
“It always feels quite opulent and prestigious to have a full-sized tennis court at a house,” said Peter Torok of Ray White Blackheath. “The owners currently use it as a weekender and let it out on Airbnb and people love it as they can have their own family tournaments there in complete privacy.
“There’s been a big marquee set up on the court for events, so it means so much more usable space.”
Many pundits expect tennis will grow even popular over the years, with Australian Open director Craig Tilley saying attendance numbers will hit 1 million soon, and the number of people playing the sport continuing to rise.
“But for those families with tennis courts at home, that provides so many opportunities for children to start playing the game,” says Larner.
“That has an important role in their development, allowing parents to spend time with their children, and families to get together and stage their own family opens. That can lead to so many benefits developmentally, socially and for the community.”
By Sue Williams
Originally published by Domain
