Cairns Update

[Ecogirl]

Yes it does help thank you for that. Any areas you would steer clear of?

Poscash
Do a search for Cairns and you will find mention of what to stear clear of (I think). The locals have a saying that stay away from a suburb that starts with M...

ie Manunda, Manoora and Moorobool. These areas were traditionally full of housing commission homes. Having said that 'lego land' or unit city is a nice area of units in the Manoora/Whitfield area that's not a bad place to live. It has shops, schools etc nearby and isn't far from town. I have lived there at various times when I returned to Crns.

Some of the traditional areas that the locals wouldn't want to live are now cleaning up eg Whiterock. Things are changing and previously dodgy areas get nicer. The govmt sell off housing comission houses every now and then to try and integrate the residents into greater suburbia - these are cheap houses that have potential.

There are still some bargains to be found if you do your research and know where to look.

Good luck
Ecogirl

 

[poscash]

Thanks for that Ecogirl. I was told to stay away from the areas beginning with M last year but it seems to be changing. I have found that the government is trying to separate their houses in most areas so usually housing commission areas could have some potential.

ChrisOS, what rental return are you getting on your recent puchase?

Anyway back to the research, I am having trouble deciding on flying to Cairns or Townsville for my next investment.

 

[ChrisOs]

Hi PosCash.

I am getting a 6.6% gross yield on the house - not terrific, but reasonable at the moment.

Regards,
Chris.

 

[G&G]

Poscash,

If you are after an excellent RE agent try Lisa Hunt at Ray White 07 4045 4700 / 0439 947 776. She recently spent days with me taking me through properties both listed with herself and other agents. We purchased 2 x 2 Bedroom Duplex at Mt Sheridan.

G&G

 

[poscash]

Thank you G&G. That would be my preference as well to buy a 2x2 duplex, I haven't seen any on the market in Cairns at all. How much did you pay for them?

 

[G&G]

Poscash

I paid 258K and get $340 combined rental per week.

G&G

 

[Lincoln]

G'day all,

I bought a 2 bedroom house in Parramatta PK last May 2003. It was rented straight away and the Gross Yield was 6.4%. At todays market value after the apprasial from my REA it would be 4.8%. I havn't increased the rents.....maybe I should..MMmmm...my PM hasn't mentioned it though.

Just thought I'd share my experience.

Cheers,

Lincoln

 

[bkw319]

Rents have definately gone up in the last 12 months in the Cairns area and the vacancy rate is low.

Whether you want to increase your rent will no doubt be influenced by what your pm tells you and how desperate you are to keep your current tenant. Remember, a good tenant is like gold.

I just bought my second investment house in Cairns and like the other one is is returning a gross yield of about 6.5%.

I suspect that there is still some steady growth yet to come in the area although not a swift as in the last 12 months.

 

[Yuan Shu]

House Prices from CBA

Dear everyone:

I just got the latest house prices from CBA:

(1) Cairns mainland area (zipcode: 4870): 268,500 (June), 245,000 (May), 255,000 (April). The overall trend is surely up.

(2) Mount Sheridan area (zipcode: 4868): 230k, 237.5K, 230K.

(3) Canberra: 380, 380, 400. Trend: up.

Good news for those who bought some time ago. Bad for those who are trying to buy now. I just closed a deal to buy a house in Forest Garden (328K, rent: 355/week, 5.6% gross).

bye for now.

shu

 

[chrispy]

Cairns

Congratulations Shu on your purchase, hope it goes well, keep us informed on how you are going with letting, vacancy etc.

Poscash if you are interested Chris Gay has a triplex coming up for auction on 7 August they are on his website www.oconnorandgay.com.au (residential) if you are looking for something a little larger then they have 3 shops and 2 units on one title, so no body corp fees, for $500k returning $40k NET pa (look on their website under commercial)

If you are looking for something a little cheaper then Paul Davies, L.J. Hooker, Edge Hill, has a 2 bedroom apartment at 5/2 Mayers Street, Manunda for $95k this will rent for $140 pw, the owners want to rent straight back, I have one in the same block which I get $140 pw unfurnished and it lets out immediately, the longest it has been empty has been 3 days!!!

Regards
Chris

 

[poscash]

Thanks for that Chrispy I will have a look at them.

Regards, Kylie

 

[chrispy]

Duplex

Kylie

Saw this duplex on the ljhooker site and thought of you, knowing you are looking for one

http://www.ljhooker.com.au/property_listing.php?id=622598&type=residential&category=buy&a=1089533514

the return is under 6% gross but has guaranteed rent

Chris

 

[poscash]

Thanks for thinking of me Chris.

 

[Sunfish]

Dropped into Cairns on Sunday to watch some cricket and came away with very mixed feelings.

A big rassbery to the fact that it took 2 hrs to get there from Mission Beach. It aint far but:

The road is bad ...... known
The weather was bad ....... To be expected
The amount of traffic ...... I was surprised by this.

Cairns is very busy but still linked inexurably to the tourist trade. But they are doing it very well!

Driving South this morn was nearly as bad

T

 

[Mrs Bird]

Hi Everyone,

We have a few IPs in Cairns but would like to look further a field.
Cooktown has been a possibility because the major highway from Cairns to cooktown only has 40ks left for it to be totally sealed.

With increase tourism and it being the closest point to the reef, will cooktown experience capital growth like we have seen in Cairns. Are their any pockets of land on or near the beach that may be good value....particularly for future prospects or have I already missed the boat.

Is there prospect of an international airport being opened up there?

Unfortunately we did not get the time to visit but I would be interested on other peoples thoughts on Cooktown.

Thanks.....Mrs Bird

 

[Yuan Shu]

Cairns: airport passenger arrival number graph

Hi, Chris:

I compiled the arrival number of Cairns air port passengers into a graph, and hopeD it could be shown here, but it does not allow me to paste the picture. . It is clearly seen that the number is going up! So investing in Cairns is likely to be good in the long term. It is slightly accelarating. Data can be found at Source: http://www.cairnsport.com.au/airport/statistics.

regards

shu

 

[Yuan Shu]

Cairns

Hi, Chirs:

bye the way, my recent 4-bd house in Forest Garden was rented out right away (it is a special case).

shu

 

[Yuan Shu]

field to buy in Cairns

Hi, Ms. Bird:

I thought Cooktown is a bit too far (of course the price is then low). I doubt it will have an international airport any time soon. NQLD can not afford 2 international airports (one in Cairns already).

Have you checked out the land in Park Ridge Estate in Whitfield/Cairns? I visited it for about 20 minutes on my way to the airport last April, and was really impressed by the quality of the estate and close to cairns city. But the prices there are also quite high (some prices at 1,000,000 for a 800 sm land with city/ocean view). If the prices in Cairns softens, it is then a good place to look at. 4-bd room Houses in the Estease mostly sell for over 420K (one for 350K), so if you consider the building cost of about 250K, then the land price should be about 170K for a normal 700sm piece in Park Ridge.

Just my 1.5cent opinion.

shu

Hi Everyone,

We have a few IPs in Cairns but would like to look further a field.
Cooktown has been a possibility because the major highway from Cairns to cooktown only has 40ks left for it to be totally sealed.

With increase tourism and it being the closest point to the reef, will cooktown experience capital growth like we have seen in Cairns. Are their any pockets of land on or near the beach that may be good value....particularly for future prospects or have I already missed the boat.

Is there prospect of an international airport being opened up there?

Unfortunately we did not get the time to visit but I would be interested on other peoples thoughts on Cooktown.

Thanks.....Mrs Bird

 

[geoffw]

I thought Cooktown is a bit too far (of course the price is then low). I doubt it will have an international airport any time soon. NQLD can not afford 2 international airports (one in Cairns already).

Actually, N Queensland already has two- Townsville has one as well.

 

[Sunfish]

Actually, N Queensland already has two- Townsville has one as well.

We have the airport, but no traffic. Tourists will never fly into Townsville, Cairns has that sewn up, and we will need more major industry before business traffic could justify a couple of flights per week. Might happen.

T