Gold Coast Hinterland mountains

Hi Folks,
I'm seriously looking at purchasing up in the mountains behind the Gold Coast (Mount Tamborine and Beechmont). From the hype I've been getting from the estate agents up there, the properties are in an exclusive niche market and their "values simply cannot fall" due to the limited amount of the property available up there. Apparently the red soil on the two plateaus and the good rainfall make it a gardeners Eden. The temperatures are also about 5c less at that elevation, taking some of the sting from the summer. The prices seem to compare about equally to some of the better GC suburbs, with a 4br home on an acre of land going for about 500K. I do see some serious disadvantages, such as no town water and sewerage, a difficult road climb (more fuel and faster brake wear) and very few facilities on the mountain.
I hoping to get some thoughts if the place could really be a good investment and something that might appeal to retiring Boomers as a limited availability niche 'Green change' area and therefore hold a good price regardless of what the markets do elsewhere

I know that Residex think that area is going to be very good over the next 8 years - something like 12% growth.
You can buy their report from the website for that postcode for $90:
http://www.residex.com.au/index.php?content=postcode&from=lhsmenu

Did it

Well we did it.

3br cedar cottage on 2200sqm of flat rich-red/brown-volcanic-loam partly rainforested land in North Tamborine. Deceased estate that was never listed. We picked it up for 310k. A real 'worst house, best street' if ever I saw one. The place is solid and in good nick, but has a horrible 70's interior. House across the road on identical block sold recently for 495k.

The mountain looks like the perfect 'green change' community if ever there was one. Community atmospher, lowest crime rate in the state, 25 mins to the GC beaches, 1hr to Brissy CBD. 600m up, 4-5c cooler and without the horrible summer humidity of the coast. The council recently scrapped any further sub-division for anything under 5 acres (to preserve the underground water supply) - so basically there is hardly any land left and what ever is up there is all that there will be.

Nicest thing is that it has two 30kl underground cement tanks (twice what most other places have) and we found out that it runs over the same underground aquifer that Neverfail Spring water gets their supply from - the stuff is 60m down and has been perculating through the lava tubes from the lamington plateau for thousands of years. Got quote about $4500 to sink our own bore down to a 4000lph supply of Evian. So when the booming GC sprawl runs the Hinze dam dry, it will be one of the few places with water.

EOTWAWKI,

Awesome buy. I don't reckon you can go wrong with that one...

In your situation I would have jumped at it. Don't fancy flipping it do you?

Cheers,
Michael.

Eotwawki,
well done,my first property 24 years ago was up on the mountain at cedar creek
sold up in 1998 when the price went up 200% over a four year period,enjoy
the winter nights.
good luck
willair....

Had a drive around there when we were last up at surfers. Reminded be of the Blue mountains 30 years ( possibly longer but I don't remember that far back ... ) ago. Has to be an area for good long term growth.

Sounds like a good buy ( ignoring any timing debates ..... )

See Change

A very nice part of the world

My business partner bought a property in the Gold Coast hinterland at Tallai for $230,000 around 3 years ago and has spent around 200k in renovations. It's value now is around $1.6mil. Great property with views over the entire Gold Coast region.

Kev

Tallai is a great place. Have friends up there who have done well.
What puts me off is the threat of bushfires up there and that windy road to get out in a hurry if it were necessary.