It’s been over a year since some Australian locals spoke of the celebrities relocating en masse to their Byron Bay hometown. At first, some locals Share their feelings for celebrities like Chris Hemsworth who come to live and playing, noting that the locals were “outside them”. (Tika Waititi had the same feelings.) Now, a little over a year later, things in Australia’s Byron Bay seem to be a little worse, with some locals saying they’ve been priced out of areas and homes and have nowhere to go…at least not A place not exposed to floods and exposed to fires.
In a new report in viceThe seaside town that sports the homes of Chris Hemsworth and his wife Elsa Pataky, among other major names, may seem charming at first. However, over the past several years, many locals in the area have been driven out of Byron Bay and into the surrounding areas due to the rapid change in property prices in the area.
This is a common story in pay-out areas, as those who cannot afford increasingly high property values are being driven away, but it is said to be particularly stark with Byron Bay, where the surrounding areas have seen devastation from flood waters and more. A former local, who spoke with the outlet, said she lived on the outskirts of town until wealthier locals came along. She was forced to move to a flood-prone area, Molombembe, where in February she lost everything but a small bag of clothes, sheets and scissors she used to cut her hair.
Currently, that woman, Jessica May, a former Byron Bay local, lives with her son from a truck that one of her clients gave her. She said she’ll need to relocate previously to another area of Australia completely when she can move, noting:
I have enough now for a small campground, which I will do with the camper van and go back to work. I will move to the Gold Coast. And you know why? Because I can’t pay $1,200 rent in Byron.
While Chris Hemsworth moved to the coastal city long before the pandemic started – He and Elsa Pataky left Hollywood And they were moved again in 2014 – a lot of celebrities were moved during the pandemic. This includes Zac Efron, who allegedly He met his ex-girlfriend Vanessa Valadares thereAnd Matt Damon, whom I love so much Barricaded in Byron Bay during filming Thor: Love and Thunder During Covid-19. Hemsworth and Pataky moved to Sydney in 2021, but he is said to still spend some weekends in Byron Bay.
Even movie productions have moved to the area, reports indicate Nine perfect strangers With Melissa McCarthy and Nicole Kidman were photographed there. Netflix series about influencers Byron Pace Also calls the city house.
In some ways, this will likely be a boost to the local economy, but not for everyone who lives there. Because of its ideal beach location, property values have skyrocketed, with reports suggesting the median home price in the community is north of $3 million at this point. Rented the house Matt Damon during the filming Thor: Love and ThunderFor example, it allegedly cost him $100,000 for just two weeks of living. That’s about $7,000 a night for an eight-bedroom home located in Nuukro, just outside Byron Bay.
Between 2020 and 2021, the median home price in the area jumped from $1.42 million to $2.7 million. Or, as a local told Vice: “Billionaires are firing millionaires.”
