Buying IP in Orange or Bathurst - advice needed please!!

[Brady]

I have been looking for an IP in either Orange and Bathurst until recently.

I started discount Orange due to the fact that I heard from Real estate agent (rent manager) that the economy is slowing down.

Also I have realised that there are very good stock of available rental properties in Bathurst and as of Feb 13, vacancy rate seems going up at 2.9%.
This starts giving me concern (in short term).
http://www.sqmresearch.com.au/graph_vacancy.php?postcode=bathurst&t=1
(You need to scroll to the right end of this graph to see the latest figure)

I have researched these areas (checked flood prone areas, past flood history, talked to Town planner at councils, general area information (more and less preferrable areas) from real estate agents etc) and identified the area I want to buy and kept searching until recently.

However, I start realising that rental market is getting hard for IP.
the available rental property
http://www.realestate.com.au/rent/p...athurst,+nsw+2795/list-1?activeSort=list-date

at least there are over 20 NEWLY listed rental property (3 bedder house) available. I can see how hard to find renters in this area if I bought an IP and rent out....

Of course, this is only my view from the fact I found so any other comments all welcome if any.

From what my PM tells me its usually pretty slow on the rental front around new years and picks up mid way through the year.

SQM vacancy rate graph shows a similar signs.


My property is tenanted @ $340p/w market rent is above this, but im happy to keep tenant at this rate at the moment due to the time of year.

My property is a 3 bedroom double garage with 2 bathrooms, the extra bedrooms should see my property picked up before others on the market in same price range with only 1 bathroom.


Not too sure why the vacancy rates have increased of late, might shoot my PM a email and ask for an update on her view of the current market.

 

[Brady]

This was my agents reply

Current market is extremely busy. Most uni students have their accommodation, however, we still have some stragglers looking for places. Hasn’t made much of a difference to us though – still lots of people looking and applying. Filled 4 properties in the last 2 days and got 4 more applications to process. Have heard some other agencies are having trouble filling the houses, but I know I’m flat stick!

 

[skippyz]

This was my agents reply

That's a good news.
I was just a bit surprised to see the whole 1.5 pages of rental properties available as 'newly listed' at realestate.com.au in Bathurst and total 173 available rental properties and vacancy rate is getting higher recently - it may be due to new residence in a developed lands, units etc....

 

[chilliblue]

Our Orange property came onto the market the week before Christmas.

Old tenant moved out in the morning and new tenant in the afternoon. Had over 15 applicants and rental went up 9%.

If you buy the right property you should never have a problem.