Hello everyone
Sorry to be a bit cheeky and create a topic as a new forumite but looks like it might be ok to put up towns as topics.
I could not find any recent discussions about Whyalla but I thought it might be 'out there' a bit by now, with OneSteel, as a regional service centre (has had some workers commuting to Roxby for many years), because of the new rare earth development next to OneSteel, and the BHP desal plant to be built. OneSteel has the iron ore port which could bear upgrading. Also three proposed new windfarms on EP with the transmission line upgrade near Whyalla and PA, and heaps of junior miners and exploration all over Eyre Peninsula. Looking at re.com, about half the stuff for sale in Whyalla currently is land, with several new estates going up where houses retail circa 400K. Meanwhile you can still pick up a 3 bed trust house for 100K with weekly rent expectation of about 170 and opportunities to cheaply value-add to increase that considerably. Whyalla is a town that was planned in the 60s and 70s to carry a large population, like 100K people, and has a lot of infrastructure already in place for this expansion.
I am also wondering about Port Augusta which will surely benefit from the Olympic Dam expansion and development of Eyre Pen as a mining province, also from the leases being explored in the northern Flinders. Ditto cheap supply of trust housing and some attractive coastal regeneration going on. Both PA and Whyalla would be attractive to miners wanting the fishing and coastal lifestyle on days off.
Obviously Roxby Downs itself will benefit from the Olympic Dam expansion. Housing here has already gone up but surely this market will go gangbusters yet? The expansion has yet to kick off but this is a 100 year mine and one of the richest polymetallics in the world, the jewel in the BHP crown.
I am adding Port Lincoln because although prices have risen from rich tuna farmers and lifestylers buying into the marina etc, it is still the port. Centrex metals wants to export iron ore through there and has met with local resistance but the SA gov is very pro mining and there are lots of other projects under development on the peninsula that will probably want to use the port too.
Port Pirie obviously already has the Nyrstar smelter which survived the GFC so it must be reasonably stable.
Even Ceduna in the far west may have some opportunies, with all the regional activity and Iluka amping up nearby?
Obviously Adelaide will benefit from the Olympic Dam expansion too and FIFO workers will be looking for quality coastal lifestyles on their downtime, but the regional areas are still much more affordable and surely can expect good growth and rents?
I'd be interested to see what others have to say, if anyone is into these areas already or has dismissed them, and why.
My partner and I have been interested in PI for some time but now we've got the travel bug out of our systems and wanting more for our $ than happy memories, we are finally looking at this seriously and thinking about where to start.
Thanks!
Hi
I currently hold property in Roxby and have made very good returns and gains out of the town, sold 1.
South Australia does not know what is coming when the mine expansion happens, it will be hugh and on par with a lot of the Pilbara sitesThese areas are all about timing, at the moment Roxby prices are 50-75k down from there peak so there is some goodish buys there at the moment. The expansion is still some time off and it will be when all that talk starts up again that it normally takes off, its all the speculation not the event that creates the hype
I believe in Port Augusta as a future investment, as PA West is earmarked for a lot of new housing development, PA West on the water side is the pick
Whyalla needs more industry then One Steel and hopefully the rare earth plant goes ahead, still will be a couple of years away, the desal plant may be there or could be put at Streaky Bay, open ocean. There has been and is a lot of new development land available so this can have an effect on returns if there. There is 100 places for rent in Whyalla at the moment and 1 in Roxby
Whatever your decision I believe you would need to hold for a couple of years to see capital values increase so look at your rental returns
Good topic Frankey,
im a long time reader (of all topics), but first time poster!!
Another town in the mix in SA is Coober Pedy, offering cashflow+ opportunities now and more for the future. Local mines are opening up, with 3 more in the next 5 years all within a 50km raduis of Coober. Be mindful that not all banks are interested in financing Dugouts (sometimes underground or houses tunneled into the rock face).
Settlement on our first IP is in less than a month and we couldn't be happier. We found a unit block with 3 units returning a 10% yield. All for under 200k on one freehold title! There are still plenty of opportunities in this little town, with lots of Government/corporate tenanted houses/dugouts on long term leases!!
Due to the mines having no onsite accomodation, it's all live in local. So Vacancy rates have already plummeted.
In short both Frankey and Basbog make great suggestions, SA is on the move and about to go Boom.
Im glad I finally took the plung, and got there via my own research!
Regards,
Dave
Thanks for the responses guys, interesting stuff. I had not even considered Coober Pedy but it sounds like a great start to your investing.
We actually took a run up to Whyalla on the weekend to visit friends, and had a look at Port Augusta on the way through. We lived in Whyalla about 7 years ago when you could buy a trust house for 20K (we lived in one as trust tenants while studying at the uni there). Now they start at 100K. We were interested to see what had happened in the meantime as our friends had told us the place had had a little boom, but then values dropped a little and stalled following the GFC. As we drove around town, our friends pointed out all the places that had been for sale for months, or even years, with vendors holding out unsuccessfully for pre-GFC prices. So not a very lively market just at present. However, for a town three hours south of Roxby you can still pick up some very good value sea views. The council has done some good upgrade work down on the foreshore, which has long been an under utilised asset of the town and the foreshore and beach is a great area for families. There are still dolphins hanging out with the fishing boats and yachts in the little marina there, and a new netted off swimming area in the corner of it too.
And the big news – Whyalla appears to finally have its first proper (non shopping centre) cafe! And it had people in it! At long last people there have the spare dollars or desire to sit in an aspiring-trendy cafe and order friands with their lattes… knew it had to happen one day, and with all the regional development, disposable incomes can only rise. Fast food has always been popular and there's now a Maccas as well as the old Hungry Jacks which are all grouped together with KFC (relocated away from the highway that passes through town to the precinct of the Westlands Shopping Centre).
re.com at the moment has lots of housing blocks in new developments at Whyalla for sale, and we were amazed to see the number of houses in these new developments. When we lived there, you'd be hard pressed to find a house less than thirty or forty years old. Now the 'courtyard homes' craze has taken off in the new subdivisions. Curiously the larger of these is out the back of what used to be the worst of the trust ghettos. A small development near the foreshore still has vacant blocks – within five minutes walk to the beach, I find it curious people would rather live 10 kms away into the bluebush in the 'Ocean Eyre' development. Although there are some larger 'lifestyle' blocks out the back of that which give people more breathing room from their neighbours. Definitely more new shinier vehicles around too. However a large industrial park development opposite the OneSteel site on the edge of town has sat stagnant since it was put in a couple of years ago, with these major industrial lots with a very wide bitumised road and services, all just sitting there (the road is popular with young locals for drag runs). One of the old derelict pubs has been made over into shiny apartments, and a couple of other daggy old pubs and venues have been reinvented, so there are some good signs, things just seem to be coming along slowly.
Port Augusta has vastly improved its foreshore and waters-edge area and seems to have been effective in discouraging public drinking in these areas. Not sure how the overall antisocial behaviour management is going but the town certainly presents better to the passing tourist, and the Maccas there has even gone 24 hour. Some nice townhouses have been built along the water's edge and again some great views still to be had on the western side of town.
We didn't call into Pt Pirie but apparently Western Plains Resources (that has some development south of Coober Pedy) has just taken a $50m deep water port project to Pirie after getting fed up trying to progress it at Whyalla. Small ore ships used to pull up at the Whyalla port to load ore a few years back. Now with greater volumes leaving from a new magnetite mine south-west of town, they can't get the bigger ships in to the shallower port there, and instead load barges at the town port that are pulled by tug out to a floating loading platform that services larger ships in the deep water, visible a km or two offshore from the town. I guess with the resources industry there are always issues of ownership and access to infrastructure, because I believe One Steel has both the port and rail leaving Whyalla, and I guess didn't want to share, so Pirie's gain on that one at least.
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