Spending intentions for swimming pools jumped 21.4 per cent over the year to November, Commonwealth Bank research found.Homeowners have been using cash saved from cancelled lockdown-era holidays to install backyard swimming pools and make their home an oasis.A swimming pool was high on the list for Mia de Rauch and her partner when they were searching for a new home during the pandemic.
‘Pool’ was the number one search term among prospective buyers on Domain.com.au from January to November 2022.There was also a 21.4 per cent rise in the pools category over the year to November in Commonwealth Bank’s Household Spending Intentions index, which measures spending among CBA customers and Google Trends search data.
Cameron Levick, chief executive of Plungie, a pre-fabricated pool company, said while their business was only four years old, their volume increased by more than 300 per cent in the 2020-21 financial year compared to the previous one.Levick said the pickup in demand was driven by the appeal of having access to a pool even during lockdowns, while increasing property value.
“A lot of people were wondering how long [it would be before] they could travel, so they decided to spend money on their homes rather than the unknown of when they could travel again,” Papadopoulos said. “This is the perfect pool for anyone who wants low maintenance, and just the perfect size to cool off,” she said.
“We’re getting less leads ... in the last few months and that’s a direct impact from home loan rates, since they increased interest rates,” Michelet said.“Pools are definitely a luxury purchase, for some people it doesn’t matter, but for others it can be quite tight.”