Albury

G

Gizzy1

Hi all just wondering what you think of investing in Albury . I have been looking on realestate.com and there are some lovely properties for sale which you can positive gear ...

Any thoughts

Cheers :)
 
Here are few examples of search results...

From
http://somersoft.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1104675&postcount=10

devank said:
Last week I drove around West Wodonga area. I was expecting a bit run -down town feel... but I was pleasantly surprised. I think there are many positives
- This region (Albury/Wodonga) is a bit removed from Sydney & Melbourne but self-functioning with universities, hospitals and multi-businesses including defense. Most other regions are connected to only one major city.

- Prices are so much lower than Sydney & Melbourne. House prices haven't moved much over 10 years but it had growth before that. So it is about time.

- Recent Hume Freeway bypass moved all heavy trucks away from these two cities. Some would argue that it was damaging for small business but I think it would be like how Newcastle was transformed after BHP.

- Investors haven't attacked this area much even though it was on Margaret Lomas and Terry Ryder's list.

Disclaimer: I have an IP in West Wodonga which was bought few months ago. Before anyone ask 230K returning 275 pw.
Click to expand...



From
http://somersoft.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1068468&postcount=25

JennD said:
Went to Albury/Wodonga and Shepparton with Margaret Lomas earlier this year for an SPI article (I think August issue).

Essentially, Wodonga was the initially preferred pick (in terms of progressive council pushing growth) but as council is intending to double their land size in the same period of time as doubling their population - making it questionable what sort of growth would occur. Any desirability of Wodonga may ripple through to Albury.

Wodonga plans also to have more of a CBD, which it is missing. Albury already has this + established resident base.

Margaret said to me she'd be looking to buy somewhere that is close enough to get the benefit of both towns, but not in the heart of Albury (as won't get the best price growth).

The feel I also got from the council was that they're still struggling to keep their younger people (as in 20s to late 30s) in the area, as they leave to take on better jobs available in Melb or Syd. This might cause an issue with those looking to have units, as typically these would be the renters of the units? Albury is big on families, and the mayor told us that many come back with families when they're older and have worked in the capitals etc.

Margaret said yield was pretty decent, and while it is unlikely to go crazy there in the short-term, in the medium to longer term both areas would have pretty steady growth.

Food for thought and pretty eye-opening for me as I'd never visited any of these places before.
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From
http://somersoft.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1074091&postcount=33
davu said:
Ok heres a quick outline on my trip.

Here's a disclaimer: I have yet to own an IP as yet, I decided to put holding deposits down on some OTP apartments in Brisbane & Sydney but never went ahead with them as I realised they weren't good investments with the risks involved. As I educated myself.

I guess what first attracted me to Albury was it was a town that was in my budget to buy 2-3 properties there if the numbers worked. in which avg rental yields were around 6.3-7.7+% so that was attractive.

There were micro developements going on in Albury, or developments under 100Million. Such as the completed cancer clinic in the East Albury Base Hospital in which some of my friends work there. Other council devs, MARS factory, ATO, dev of hotels/serviced apartments, land renewals. You would not see a boom in next 2-5 years I can tell you that but I think it's a stable market and a comfortable place to put my money in for the 5,10,15 year period. But that comes to your strategy again.

I've visited Albury before (2 yrs ago) but only in the main shopping street, ie. David St and the ones that run perpendicular through the town ie. swift & smollett. I phoned a few real estates and asked the good and bad areas of Albury but none were really helpful/wanted to provide answers (probaably they think your just testing but when I went down all the R/E were very helpful in pointing out the areas to avoid which I knew from http://atlas.id.com.au/albury).

*** USE http://atlas.id.com.au/albury LIKE YOUR BIBLE*** it's amazing census data to compare information, and you can make a pretty accurate analysis from the data they provide. PS. Thank you Dave R

Sample of data on what I looked for in the Streets that the properties I was looking at.

Homeowners - 24.6% 28% 16.7%
Mortgage - 34.6% 35.7% 32.7%
Private Rent 30% 28% 41.8%
Social Housing Rent - 5.4% 0% 1.5%

Low income 18.6% 31.2% 27.4%
High income 9.6% 1.9% 7.2%
Median HOUSEHOLD income $1195 $742 $792
Median salary $631 $405 $587
Median age 35 38 33
Unemployment 6.4% 11.4% 9%
Youth Unemployment 14/98 7/40 17/87
Labour force participation 71.6% 53.9% 71%
One parent families with children 11.1% 12.1% 6.5%

Also had a look at housing stress, rental stress - interesting when u compare to adjacent areas...

Housing stress:
households in the lowest 40% of incomes who are paying more than 30% of their usual gross weekly income on housing costs

Rental Stress:
households in the lowest 40% of incomes, who are paying more than 30% of their usual gross weekly income on rent

Median Rental payments

High rental payments >$400/wk
High rental is defined as households paying more than $400 per week in rent in 2011


Albury seems to have a LARGE Discount rate (Probably originally over priced houses to begin with) with real estates knock down at least $10-15k off the price advertised on Realestate.com.

So from http://atlas.id.com.au/albury I can already tell you the places to avoid are any areas that have MORE THAN 26% Housing Commission, there are several pockets scattered across Albury. Such as:
- Area near Bonnie Doon Park (This is over the mountain and up the hills) ie Kurrajong Cres.

- Eastern Circuit & Alexandra St (Yes I drove around there because I was curious to see the conditions, and it was trash dont be tempted by the cheap price tag. And I locked my car doors, turn the windows up)

- Endeavour Park Area, ie. Kurnell St, Rsolution St. near Glenroy

- North Albury : Sarvass Park streets around there. There was a saying people wouldn't want to live in North Albury but this is changing in recent years, but still rough area. If you investing here look for at least 6.5% yield imo, this area is the ONE OF the HIGHEST unemployment rate 11.4% and 50% rely on Centrelink income.


- Area near Lavington Shopping centre, Wagga Rd & Union RD

-Springdale Heights is a not so good area, the area you MUST avoid called the "G Block" ie. all the streets starting with G (Area is listed in alpha order) - Gardia St


Some insight to what I thought.

TL;DR: Check houso areas and avoid, look for at least 6.5% yield for IP unless u want East Alb/Grand View dr where the Dr's live. Negotiate 10k+ k ish.

These are just my opinion of things and I am no expert, In fact I just started in property.
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Hi Gizzy,

I am local (sort of) so if you need any specific advice let me know? as already pointed out there is another thread on this topic t running.
I have just exchanged contacts on a renovators delight over in Wodonga..

There are areas/streets on both sides of the border to be wary of, and some of the little units have high strata fees that will eat up your positive cash flow quick smart..

If there are any specific properties you are keen on let me know.. I spend a lot of time jogging/cruzing around checking out properties
 
Thanks

Thank you for all your input it sounds like it is a good return on rental if you buy in the right spot... I shall try to find this other link on Albury and have a look ...

To Poppy Jane

Thank you I do have my eye on a property in Albury North is this a nice area ?

Cheers
Gizzy
 
Gizzy1 said:
Thank you for all your input it sounds like it is a good return on rental if you buy in the right spot... I shall try to find this other link on Albury and have a look ...

To Poppy Jane

Thank you I do have my eye on a property in Albury North is this a nice area ?

Cheers
Gizzy
Click to expand...

According to that post by Davu above, 50% rely on centerlink there...
 
A lot of North Albury is dodgy, commission, or ex commission. There are some nicer area, but even then I think some of these are overpriced. If there is a particular house/street you are looking at let us know. There is defiantly a stigma attached to North Albury/Lavington (or stabbington as the locals call it).

Stay away from anything in Captain Cook drive, or the new commission housing along the old freeway.

In saying that there is still money to be made, you can get a brick, ex commission house on an 800 meter block for $165k ? rent in the range of $200-$210, up to $250-60 with renovations, and subdivision.

You will also see there are a lot of units for sale in Lavington/North Albury, they are hard to offload if you ever want to sell..due to the oversupply
 
Hi Gizzy,
I'm a North Albury resident so I know the area first hand. As Poppy mentioned, areas of North Albury and Lavington are a bit rough but what else can you expect from sub $200K properties. The trick for an investor is to find the good stuff in amongst the not so good stuff or fork out for better stuff. The Albury/Wodonga market requires buyers to drive around because it can be a matter of 4 blocks between good and bad.
As for the property you linked, my brother used to own the property across Corella St so I know that area particularly well. Further down Wantigong St gets a bit rough but that section is ok, mostly owner occupiers and fairly quiet. I like this property because it is a bit nicer then whats around it which will make it easier to rent and sell when things get slow again.
The market is on the improve according to Todd Herron however we haven't seen it on the ground yet. For a while now things have been selling quickly but at value. It won't be long before lack of supply kicks things up a bit. Sale prices are traditionally 15% below advertised price but I've started to see this decline recently (I'd start down around $200K for that place). 2014 is shaping as a good year.
 
I ended up buying in Lavington, still waiting to rent out the place though been 2 weeks on market so far applicants arent crash hot yet.
 
thanks

aussieslr said:
Hi Gizzy,
I'm a North Albury resident so I know the area first hand. As Poppy mentioned, areas of North Albury and Lavington are a bit rough but what else can you expect from sub $200K properties. The trick for an investor is to find the good stuff in amongst the not so good stuff or fork out for better stuff. The Albury/Wodonga market requires buyers to drive around because it can be a matter of 4 blocks between good and bad.
As for the property you linked, my brother used to own the property across Corella St so I know that area particularly well. Further down Wantigong St gets a bit rough but that section is ok, mostly owner occupiers and fairly quiet. I like this property because it is a bit nicer then whats around it which will make it easier to rent and sell when things get slow again.
The market is on the improve according to Todd Herron however we haven't seen it on the ground yet. For a while now things have been selling quickly but at value. It won't be long before lack of supply kicks things up a bit. Sale prices are traditionally 15% below advertised price but I've started to see this decline recently (I'd start down around $200K for that place). 2014 is shaping as a good year.
Click to expand...

Thanks I do really like the house and it is already being rented I shall ask if the tenants want to stay on ... Sometimes you just get a good vibe from something ...
 
What is the rent? Do you really want something negatively geared when there are buys with better yield in the area?

I guess it depends whether you want something nice or something that will make you money. For other sites copy this into google.

site:somersoft.com "albury"
 
aussieslr said:
Hi Gizzy,
I'm a North Albury resident so I know the area first hand. As Poppy mentioned, areas of North Albury and Lavington are a bit rough but what else can you expect from sub $200K properties. The trick for an investor is to find the good stuff in amongst the not so good stuff or fork out for better stuff. The Albury/Wodonga market requires buyers to drive around because it can be a matter of 4 blocks between good and bad.
As for the property you linked, my brother used to own the property across Corella St so I know that area particularly well. Further down Wantigong St gets a bit rough but that section is ok, mostly owner occupiers and fairly quiet. I like this property because it is a bit nicer then whats around it which will make it easier to rent and sell when things get slow again.
The market is on the improve according to Todd Herron however we haven't seen it on the ground yet. For a while now things have been selling quickly but at value. It won't be long before lack of supply kicks things up a bit. Sale prices are traditionally 15% below advertised price but I've started to see this decline recently (I'd start down around $200K for that place). 2014 is shaping as a good year.
Click to expand...

For me if the price and yield are good
Ie if it's a bad area and it's cheaper then say a bettr street next door as long as its reflects on the price it is a goer

Sure finding a Tenant will be a bit harder

I see a fair few in kurnell St have come on and sold recently
I've also been told to avoid west alburys bad sstreets
Most agents have said eastern circuit is bad but just manageable but west Albury to be avoided

As someone previously said North Albury seems to be seen as a good investors spot and pushed by agents
But yet someone else on ss says to avoid North Albury especially captain cook drive which I'm nit sure why
 
I?d chose North Albury over West any day of the week, to be 100% honest I didn?t feel safe getting out of my car in parts of West Albury..

I drove by the place mentioned today, not a bad spot, next to a nice newish looking duplexs, walking distance to a small shopping strip with vinnies, the warehouse, and Centro Lavington is probably also in walking distance (larger complex with Big W etc), servo , church, and schools nearby. I think there will always be a demand for affordable housing in Lavington/North Albury. If you take the time to get the right tenant you will be on a winner. I would just be wary that this property is definitely at the higher end of affordable rent for this area, and you may struggle to be able to increase rent in the short to mid term.

If you are going to purchase property in this area make sure you have adequate Landlord cover in place in case things do go wrong.
 
@TMNT

They say avoid Cpt Cook Drive as use to be ex commision/still has high drug area or something. Its also close to Glenroy which every real estate says stay away.

In Albury area you also want to avoid the "G Block" near Springvale Heights, (Any street starting with G)
 
Hi guys, what do you think about these? (2 are in the north, which from I read can be quite rough depending on which block, 1 is in the east).

560 Resolution Street, North Albury
http://www.domain.com.au/2010789605

330 Wantigong Street, North Albury
http://www.domain.com.au/2008408198

195 Andrews Street, East Albury
http://www.domain.com.au/2010893145

We're primarily interested as the entry fee is quite low and, since it can bring in positive cash flow, we can hold on to it as a long-term investment. We realised it might not have a booming capital growth in the next 5-10 years so we've put into calculation not to rely on using its equity. We do hope after 10+ years it has capital growth though.

Would love to hear your advise, especially the locals (poppy jane, aussieslr).

Thank you :)
 
You are in NSW. Why not look at Wodonga as well? You may be able to avoid hitting the land tax threshold down the track. I would say the opposite to a person from VIC.

Albury and Wodonga are practically the same. What ever happens to one will have the same effect on the other.
 
I think North Albury would be the pick in terms of Housing Commission suburbs.

I own one in North Albury....and its proximity to the Albury CBD and Lavington Centro is why it is increasingly sought after.

The areas has cleaned up a lot. This includes Captain Cook drive where they have already sold off aobut 80% if the commission homes.

The market value of the homes is increasing. I bought for $120k...and did a 7k reno. It is now worth between 165-170k...with room to move further.
 
sash said:
I think North Albury would be the pick in terms of Housing Commission suburbs.

I own one in North Albury....and its proximity to the Albury CBD and Lavington Centro is why it is increasingly sought after.

The areas has cleaned up a lot. This includes Captain Cook drive where they have already sold off aobut 80% if the commission homes.

The market value of the homes is increasing. I bought for $120k...and did a 7k reno. It is now worth between 165-170k...with room to move further.
Click to expand...
Hi Sash,
Im curious, for further context, when did you purchase your property for $120k?
 
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