Hey all,
Very vague question in regards to Gladstone, i have been reading about the place alot lately…….Why is this such a good place to invest? Or is it not?
Thanks for any feedback and yes i will also continue to do my due diligence into the area.
Cheers,
SimonIn a nutshell the export deal there is the largest in the history of Australia. Its one of Australia’s largest coal exporting ports, all the material from the entire Surat basin gets sent to Gladstone where it is exported. All the big players are investing there, British Gas, Santos, Rio Tinto etc, QLD government predicts that Gladstone region will increase by 76% over the next 10 years. The population is currently 50,000 with literally 1000s or people moving there in the near future i,e, Australia Pacific LNG project have 4000 workers on their way there, British Gas and Santos have around 7,000 workers arriving soon.
There is not enough available land and a very limited supply of housing and the demand is massive. If you do your research well you will get some good insight.
The property boom has just kicked in and as you know this will drive prices up quickly (it already is) if you want to take advantage of this market get in now.
I have done alot of research and spent quite a bit of time in Gladstone and have put together a full investor info pack from a wide range of sources. Happy to send it to you if you shoot me an email.
Im buying a property in Gladstone at the moment and from what I have read this is a very good choice. I agree with Tony you need to move quickly as you dont want to end up buying at the top of a property wave. The market there is sizzling right now.
Thanks for the prompt reply onthemoney. I would be very keen on this 'investor info pack'. I shall pm you my email.
Sounds like the area is very promising. Are there any areas to stay away from? Should i be looking only a certain distance from the CBD? Whats it like for schools? Hospitals? transport?
Cheers once again
Some of the coastal areas like Toolooa get coal dust blowing back from the stockpiles and long term residents there have serious lung related issues.. Toolooa is also a low socoio economic area and pretty rough. I would look more to areas like Kin Kora, Emmadale, New Auckland, Kirkwood. The Kin Kora shopping centre is a bit of a hub.. any of these areas are close to facilities. Gladstone is a small town and only takes minutes to get from one end to the other. Calliope is also ok 18 mins from Kin Kora and very popular for people who want to live away from the mainstream. I got your email and will send you the info pack.
NRAS is offering investment opportunities in calliope at the moment, i' m looking into.
any opinions on this type of investmentI wouldn’t be inclined to sign up to low rent schemes under NRAS. The key driver of property value growth in the area is a tight rental market leading to very high rents. Any agreement which prevents you from achieving market rent will devalue the property.
I actually live in Gladstone and speak with many key people in the property industry (I work for a legal firm here). The Gladstone rental market is practically 0 vacancy now and the future is looking like being more so as thousands of workers move to the area. They just cannot physically supply the housing and theres a critical shortage of available land. With NRAS the market rent is still the same, the government subsidises the owner and the tenants are working families.
The NRAS properties here will support the community as these workers will not be on high wages as the market surges forward in terms of property values and rents, and I can tell you this is happening and will happen due to the sheer size of the industrial projects that are going ahead. Alot of people dont realise how big this is, The LNG and other contracts here are bigger than anything that has ever occured in Australian history. Buying property in Gladstone rignt now NRAS or otherwise is an extremely wise move in my opinion.
I have property in Gladstone and also live here. The market was quite over 2009 with the economic downturn and I was telling friends to buy back then because I was aware of what was about to happen with the LNG etc. people are unbelievaly slow to catch on. Finally when everyone actually gets whats going on here the stampede is on. It's still early days but dont procrastinate. Prices are going up at about $10,000-$12,000 a month at this point and if you are thinking of buying here you need to get in now. I agree with Jules, the enormity of the projects in Gadstone is worth serious consideration, the LNG is a 20 year contract, this is not just some everyday occurance, this is a once in a lifetime thing. Re NRAS I also agree with Jules theres alot of people here who do normal jobs i.e. supermarkets, office, trades etc, how will they afford to live here? The NRAS is going to benefit these people and I see it as a positive. Look at Pt Hedland where rents are between $7,000 – $8,000 a month for example, the sheer size of projects in G will force rents as demand outweighs supply which is already happening now and its early days..
Interesting articles Austy
Tony,
I understand you are a BA in Gladstone?
Do you live there or just service the area?
I don't expect you to declare addresses, but would you consider there is better value in the house and land packages on offer in the various Gladstone land releases or would you steer people towards an existing dwelling closer to the CBD or Kin Kora centre?
Which do you think gives the better yield currently?
Is there a specific type of property that is favourable in the upcoming market?
Appreciate your thoughts
Austy
Hi Austy, I have an office in Gladstone however I travel a lot and come and go regularly. I do have someone there on a permanent basis doing the groundwork with the Buyers Agent service.
Regarding the type of property you buy, I guess its up to you and your particular investing preferences as theres good value in both established and new. At the same time you need to be careful as theres also negative aspects of both.
If you are considering buying an established however one drawback is theres not a lot of room for negotiating in this current climate. Properties are selling up around the listing price if not slightly under if its a motivated seller. A year ago you could negotiate well as the market was reasonably quiet and hence build equity into the property early. Another issue is the coal dust that blows back from the stockpiles onto the houses in certain areas near the water.
The benefits of buying new is the builders warranty, depreciation benefits and reduced transfer duty if its a land and construction. There are reasonable deals available and also ones to be wary of. There are NRAS properties available that are very also reasonably priced which are positive geared after tax, they are also worth considering.
In terms of good rentals my preference would be 4 Bdm homes established or new around West Gladstone.
Really it just depends on what your particular investing rules are. I’de be buying in West Gladstone area Kin Kora, New Auckland, Kirkwood and even Calliope. Also theres good spots on the way out of town heading toward Tannum.
Gladstone seems to be the talk of the town as of late
I have been saying for the last 12 months that Gladstone Real Estate is an excellent investment, don't leave it too late getting into this market. Here's today's news article – "Gladstone House Prices to Soar"
http://www.gladstoneobserver.com.au/story/2011/01/13/gladstone-gas-raises-house-prices/Has gladstone got flood history. also what is gladstone's cyclone history?
I asked the same question in another forum, this was the response I received
Quote:
Originally Posted by mattnz
Just wondering if any locals can advise why Gladstone seems to be the only town in the region that didn’t flood. Does Gladstone ever flood?Gladstone does flood and the closest it came with this past rain was the area of Boyne Island.
Lake Awonga’s spillway feeds into the Boyne River which goes out to sea via Boyne Island.
The Calliope river, and to a lesser extent Auckland creek, don’t have a great deal of housing around them.
Boyne Island would generally only flood through a combination of a big high tide and the feeding of the Boyne river from the Lake Awonga spillway.
Cheers
Rooster
Gladstone was high and dry through the this January flood, Rockhampton was underwater. Gladstone was just cut off from transport thats all and supermarkets started to get a little low but no real issue, roads opened and supplies back on the shelves. No one starved.
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