Buying second Property on the Gold Coast

H

Hoolign

Hi All, im looking at buying my second house hopefully on the gold coast.

My first property i bought a 3 bdr townhouse in varsity lakes and split it 50/50 with a good friend of mine that i live with and rent the 3rd room.

the Value of the place has gone up round 20% in the last 2 years so im looking at a second property.

Im looking at buying an actual house this time, no townhouses with body corp fees etc.

Does anyone have any suburbs that stand out currently. i have looked at oxenford, reedy creek, and robina as options so far.

Im looking at the sub 400k mark and hopefully something i can renovate myself.


Any advice would be great :)
 
Hi Hoolign,

Welcome to the forum.

Buy a copy of Australian Property Investor magazine at your local newsagent. In the back are the growth rates for every suburb in Australia.

You can short-list say 3 suburbs from there - then ask your Q :)

The Gold Coast is a BIG area.

Cheers,
 
thanks for the fast reply. i will definitely grab a copy!

if anyone else has any first hand experience on gold coast property i would love to hear your opinions also

would purchasing some land and building a house also be a good option as an IP? some nice quality avjennings and dixon homes available?
 
Hoolign said:
would purchasing some land and building a house also be a good option as an IP? some nice quality avjennings and dixon homes available?
Click to expand...

H&L can work - it just depends on the part of the cycle you are in. Sometimes it is cheaper to buy established, sometimes cheper to buy land & build. Just do your numbers and see how they pan out.

Remember with building from scratch, you are up for progress payments and the interest on the loan as it is progressively drawn down, long before you see any rental income.
 
Hi Hooligan!

I have three places on the Gold Coast, two in Currumbin and 1 in Varsity Lakes.

You may want to look up towards Logan. There a bunch of good buys and you can easily add value to them. I would even suggest the rents cover the costs now. You may even be able to sport two houses.

I don't have anything against the GC. I live here and love it etc. Houses in that price range, I am not too sure where. There are plenty of units in your price range. Maybe Coomera would have House and Land for around that much. Remember new IP gets depreciation, so its a positive.

Chris
 
Hoolign said:
Does anyone have any suburbs that stand out currently. i have looked at oxenford, reedy creek, and robina as options so far.
Click to expand...

Have a look at this thread: http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48942

My thoughts on the following:

  1. Oxenford - good position for Brisbane commuters but lots of space out there and room for demand to grow. Also a bit far away from the hubs of the GC.
  2. Reedy Creek - bit similar in that there's a fair bit of room for development and the areas it is closest to tend to have more transient residents (Burleigh, Palm Beach).
  3. Robina - growing quickly (almost another CBD) and good employment opportunities. Downside is the location is nothing special in terms of access to beach or waterways.

My pick of the bunch by far is still Southport. Strong employment across a range of professional industries, great access to beach and water, easy drive to the freeway and plenty of government and council investment happening. Look for slightly older 3 story walk-up apartments next to new developments or houses around the Johnstone St region or the "girls names" streets (Melinda, Margaret, etc) just west of Ferry Rd. Steer clear of new high-rise developments.

Only concerns with the GC at the moment is higher vacancy rates than somewhere like Sydney or Melbourne. Still, construction has slowed and demand doesn't seem to be abating so I'm expecting this to be a temporary.
 
Thanks for all your replies so far, very very helpful.

I havent really thought about southport in the past but i will definately do some research, i have heard a bit about it lately and it seems to be a good investment area.

Both Robina and southport are nice and close to everything so i guess thats a big bonus. and i did hear that Robina is planned to be the CBD of the gold coast over the next 10 years or so, i have seen Robina grow incredibly over the lat 10 years, it was all paddocks and farmland not too long ago
 
My wife and I have two investment properties, both purchased as house and land packages about 3 years ago. One is in Varsity Lakes the other in Upper Coomera. They are both let with good tenants and have decent PM's looking after them. If you are interested in buying either or both please feel free to PM me.
 
Coincidence...

I have IPs in Coomera and Varsity Lakes. But both are townhouses. Places are new so great depreciation, tennants are great, rent is good market rate and the areas are nice. Coomera has plenty of council approved development as a town centre but will probably have to wait for the economic climate to improve somewhat before these plans are realised. I would suggest going on to the GCCC website to research development plans. As you have seen Robina and Varsity Lakes have huge development. This is what you want with an investment - development that will make people want to live there. This will lead to population growth which will lead to low vacancy rates.

I also like Southport, Labrodor has improved and Biggera Waters may offer good house opportunities.

Good luck
 
Personally i would stay clear of the GC.

Based on the number of properties for sale i'm afraid it will be years before there is any recovery. There are some serious reductions in asking pricing happening atm.
 
I’ve seen some pretty serious price drops at the top end of the market and with stock recently bought off the plan but that’s a story not unique to the Gold Coast at the moment. The lower end of the market (say under $400k) seems to have taken some small falls which are again, pretty consistent with other areas but as yet I haven't seen anything too concerning.

My observations are just anecdotal though; do you have any hard numbers which might clarify the situation?
 
Wattsina said:
Personally i would stay clear of the GC.

Based on the number of properties for sale i'm afraid it will be years before there is any recovery. There are some serious reductions in asking pricing happening atm.
Click to expand...



Welcome Hoolign, and Wattsina I have the same opinion. I have sold at Varsity Lakes and have been trying to sell at Biggera Waters for 6 months. Of course this only affects you if you are selling. When buying, I would be waiting for another 6 months on the Gold Coast and seeing what happens.

As mentioned above, the only market is the FHOB market. They are keeping the lower price end stable. The good thing for buyers is: Anything that is in a higher price range is having to drop down to the 350k range to liquidate. So you can really pick up some quality stock.

Think about WHY there is so much stock on the market. I think the Gold Coast is one of the most susceptible markets to price drops in QLD. Investors are bailing in droves and the worst is yet to come.

Three agents I speak to on the GC are liquidating ......what does this tell you......

On the other hand...I have this great 3BR Apartment....he he he:p

regards JO
 
evand said:
Hi Jo

What do you mean by this statement?
Click to expand...

Hi evan,

Two agents I know had sold all by the end of last year and one I know is still liquidating. They all think realestate on the Coast is going belly-up and there will be no growth for quite some time.

I know you evan;).......now don't start arguing with me about investment psychology/long term investment etc.....I'm right there with you and I am not advocating selling if your portfolio is affordable.

In relation to buying in GC at this time, I am merely stating what I know agents are doing and why it would be better to wait and see if prices drop further. If you are not in there yet...no harm in waiting.:)

Regards JO
 
Just found this. I have no idea who this guy is and why anyone should listen to him but like all of our opinions, it is something to take into consideration.

For those interested in GC.

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2008/10/17/17565_gold-coast-business.html

But Mr Hodson said the drops will be felt across the entire market, including commercial properties.

He said rents will also come off the boil as unemployment rises and more young renters choose to move back home to live with their parents or into shared accommodation with friends.

"People don't realise how scary this is going to become," said Mr Hodson.

"Anyone who's bought a property in the past 18 months is going to lose heavily and anyone who has sold in the past 18 months will have made a very good profit."
Click to expand...


Interesting reading.

Regards JO
 
LOL.. no worries Jo. I still don't understand what they are liquidating. Are they selling their own IP's? Or are you saying their RE offices have sold all their stock?

By the way, i agree that buying on the GC at the moment is not a great idea.

edit: By the way. Very interesting article from a 'former' RE agent. I bet he wouldnt be saying things like:

Mr Palmer, a former real estate agent, this week forecast Gold Coast property could fall as much as 40 per cent in the next two years.

if he was still an agent. ;)
 
I think these guys are only telling me this because I am selling. I can't imagine them telling me if I was buying!

Your question: They are selling ALL of their IP's and one of them is completely debt free incase his business goes belly up. Pretty drastic move!:rolleyes:

Regards JO
 
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