THEY'RE the properties that most would dream to have - a grand architecturally designed homestead with beautiful landscaped gardens, room to run a few stock with top quality facilities and infrastructure to complement.
Perhaps there's even room for your own vineyard, a swimming pool and more than enough sheds to store the toys and to tinker in.
Location is also key, as you want to have the convenience of being close to the city but have enough country peace and quiet for your everyday - so about an hour and a half drive would be ideal, which in WA also means high rainfall.
This is the premium lifestyle market, which draws the attention of high net worth individuals and families who are usually from Perth or the Eastern States, as well as international buyers.
Agents who specialise in this market said most buyers are in the 50 plus age group, but there are some younger people with financial backing, particularly individuals from the tech industry.
In a market that relies heavily on buyers who tend to have their feet deep in the investment or stock markets, it might come as a surprise to some that the WA premium lifestyle market still has very strong buyer interest given the current global financial situation, according to real estate agents.
However, with Australia's international border closed, buyers have not been able to enter Australia to inspect properties causing the market to pause for international parties.
Sotheby's International Realty WA group managing director Graham Bowie said despite the closed border there was still high demand from overseas buyers who were waiting to enter WA to view properties.
"As soon as they can (enter Western Australia), I think we will be very busy," Mr Bowie said.
"But at the moment, we are more enticing buyers from the Eastern States across to WA."
Agents said COVID-19 doesn't seem to have affected buyers' decisions to purchase in WA.
Rather Mr Bowie believed Eastern States buyers view WA as better value for money.
"I think WA offers larger properties than what you can buy in Victoria and New South Wales, some of the properties I am talking about are close to 1600 hectares, which you can't buy within 1.5 hours drive from Sydney and Melbourne," he said.
"In WA there is more opportunity to buy something really premium and bigger for a better price than in the Eastern States."
Perth's isolation is often a point of dismay to many Western Australians, but Garland International principal John Garland said buyers in this market saw it as a positive, describing WA as an "island within an island".
"I think it is too soon to say if overseas or Eastern States buyers see WA as a good place to live considering COVID-19," Mr Garland said.
"I believe there is a lot of pent up interest that is not being expressed because they can see the properties advertised online, but I think it is premature to say we are going to have a boom time as soon as the borders are open."
While properties within a convenient driving distance from Perth have generally been the most sought-after, since the Busselton Margaret River Airport commenced international flights to Asia in October 2019, Mr Bowie said the South West and South Coast had seen more interest.
"Buyers from Asia, particularly Singapore, have assessed that they could get into the airport by flying their private jet straight in and out," he said.
"The location of Perth and WA and the fact that it is closer to Asia and Singapore compared to Melbourne and Sydney is another factor Asian buyers are taking into account."
Mr Bowie said there is also good interest from European buyers and some in the United States.
"There is particular interest from the US for vineyard properties - a lot of vineyard properties are not big commercial scale properties but they do offer a lovely rolling hills lifestyle," he said.
"The reasoning for that is because the Australian dollar is much lower than the US, they see buying in Australia as really good value.
"In the wine area, prices for vineyard properties in the Napa Valley etc are through the roof, at all time highs, so the Australian market looks pretty good to them."
With borders closed to international purchasers, Mr Bowie said COVID-19 has provided a bigger window for Australian buyers.
"Australians who have financial backing who are looking for a lifestyle property, now is the time to move because they are buying in a market that hasn't got overseas buyers buying, so Australian buyers are at an advantage," Mr Bowie said.
"So when the national border opens - whether it's six months, 12 months or 18 months, there will be overseas buyers coming in so there will be more competitors for the same property."
Other than location, Mr Bowie said another deciding factor for high end buyers is that the property is not making a loss.
"They are looking for farming or vineyard properties, but they don't essentially have to make a profit, as long as they are not making a huge loss," he said.
"People are looking for what I would call a retreat.
"They are cashed up buyers who are prepared to spend a lot of money with an architect to build their dream home on a retreat property and maybe run some cattle."
Purchasing such a property is typically treated as a combination lifestyle retreat and investment property, as Mr Bowie said buyers will purchase intending to stay a certain time out of the year and when they're absent, will have the property rented out and hire a manager throughout the year.
Less active buyer demand appears to also not have affected property values, according to Mr Bowie.
"Because the owners of most of these properties have invested so much money and they know how much they want to get back, they're prepared to wait," he said.
"There aren't many distressed sales in this area because the people who own these multi-million dollar lifestyle properties (sometimes worth as much as $20 million or more) seem to have a diverse portfolio of investments and businesses.
"Perhaps COVID has reduced the number of sales in comparison to the huge demand from buyers, but we can't service that demand from overseas clients at the moment even though we are receiving numerous enquiries.
"So it is going to be a situation where we have built up demand that won't be satisfied until the borders open."
Mr Bowie said properties in this market could be on the market for a couple of years because it is about finding the right person who is prepared to invest such a large amount of money into a property and most have intentions to invest further and build their dream home on the property.
Currently Mr Garland said most buyers have been looking to spend a maximum of $3m, with there being a concentration of purchasers wanting to spend $1.5m.
