Australians are suddenly waking up to the fact that having an "absolute beachfront" property is no longer desirable. As most of our population live on the coast, plenty of waterfront homeowners choose to ignore it because it doesn't bear thinking about. The dream they have worked so hard for all their lives in now at risk.
The Queensland Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise in particular, is one of the most popular holidays destination in Australia and I wonder how long they can keep dumping more and more sand on the beaches after high tides keep taking it away. Huge investments are at stake and the beach erosion problem that has been ignored for years, with more and more hotels and apartments being built every day on the seafront, is now a frightening reality.
There seems to be three options to the problem: erect a sea wall in front of your property (which which cause erosion for your neighbour further down the street); sand replacement at tax-payers expense (which they've been doing for ages); or government buy-back for demolition (too horrible to contemplate).
The problem seems to have snuck up on us and is going to cause terrible anxiety for homeowners. Retirees come from all over the country to see out their days in a luxury apartment overlooking Gold Coast beaches and anyone who has invested heavily in waterfront properties, should be seriously worried.
Photos are of the Palazzo Versace, the luxury 6 star hotel which opened in 2000.
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