Dalby, QLD

[Gravos]

I am currently considering investing in a house & land package in Dalby, Queensland.

On the positive side, the economic outlook for the area (Surat Basin) appears extremely positive (coal; coal seam gas; ethanol; gas & missing link railway to Gladstone being constructed; existing agriculture). Population is expected to increase by 50% in the next 5 years. Facilities in the town are also developing (with a new $50milln shopping centre being constructed)

Yields seem to be around 6%+ (pretty good). There also seems to be a scarcity of new homes available for rent or for sale (most existing homes in the town are much older/smaller). The package I was looking at is in an estate around 3 minutes from town centre on 1 acre with a new quality home to be built.

My concerns - the possibility that the availability of new land may oversupply the market, therefore limiting prospective capital growth. A search on real estate.com brings up about 107 results for land in Dalby, most pretty close to the town itself.

Has anyone had any experience of the area or have any comments/suggestions?

thanks

 

[Aimjoy]

I am currently considering investing in a house & land package in Dalby, Queensland.

I lived in Toowoomba for 20+ years - I left it 25 or so years ago - so I'm out-of-date. Dalby is another 80kms west of Toowoomba. My memories are that when the river floods the town is cut off. Black soil needs to be kept moist (by a dripping tap) under the old Queenslanders to keep them stable. The soils are very reactive there (I think that is the term). Otherwise doors don't close in the dry etc.

Population is expected to increase by 50% in the next 5 years. Facilities in the town are also developing (with a new $50milln shopping centre being constructed)

But the current population is only around 10,000 - so it will (may) go to 15,000. In my criteria this is still too small a population for investing. Will you make money from CG - I dunno - maybe? What happens to the 50% population growth after the resources boom is over? Will anyone be there to rent your IP?

My concerns - the possibility that the availability of new land may oversupply the market, therefore limiting prospective capital growth. A search on real estate.com brings up about 107 results for land in Dalby, most pretty close to the town itself.

There is no shortage of land there. So if supply meets or exceeds demand - where is the CG coming from?

Look, sorry to be a negative nellie. I just don't like the place. So take my emotional comments with a grain of salt.

For logic see RP data's free report at:
http://www.myrp.com.au/viewFreeRepo...eet_temp=&streetExt=&streetDir=&postcode=4405

All the best with your decision.

Aimjoy

 

[kinga4610]

I haven't been to Dalby for a while now, so the shopping centre is a surprise. A few years ago they spent a lot of money in the main street to appear as one big shopping mall.

One acre 3 minutes to centre of town??? With all the traffic lights, you would be lucky to get out of the town centre in 3 minutes.

If you go back 15-20 years or so, there were very few brick homes in town due to the black soil and all the foundation costs involved with laying concrete. New homes then were all built on stumps with timber floors. Does your new house and land package allow for this?

 

[Gravos]

Thanks for your thoughts Aimjoy.

It is a small town (currently around 11,000 people I think). Mind you a lot of regional towns that have performed very well from an investment perspective (and of course linked to mining boom) are similar size or smaller - e.g. MacKay (< 5000); Karratha (WA) also < 5000; etc

I think the black soil can be addressed with construction techniques to do with the way the slab is designed.

But certainly CG in future may be dependent on strength of regional industries contributing to the local economy (although the regional economy does appear quite diversified) but certainly the land supply may have a mitigating effect on CG gains, which is my primary concern

It is also one thing to identify various projects etc that are taking place in the region, but another thing to know how precisely those projects will impact upon the residential market. Whilst there is often a big need for employees during construction (eg power station - around 1000 employees) this can drop back substantially once it is running (e.g. around 50 employees)

Thanks for your input

Gravos

 

[Gravos]

If you go back 15-20 years or so, there were very few brick homes in town due to the black soil and all the foundation costs involved with laying concrete. New homes then were all built on stumps with timber floors. Does your new house and land package allow for this?

I understand a different slab construction is used - a 600mm think suspended slab with 6m concrete piers beneath it which apparently addresses the movement issue

cheers Gravos

 

[kinga4610]

Gravos

I too did consider Dalby as a prospect, but then after seeing the Acland Coal Mine really not have considerable impact on its surrounding towns, I felt Dalby may go the same way. I am not saying there wasn't some impact, just not considerable impact.

Toowoomba is still an easy drive from Dalby. Toowoomba is also an easy drive from the Acland Coal Mine. When camps are set up for workers, the spouse & kids are usually living in a much larger town or city. I guess your DD will establish whether camps have been set up for the workers.

The Ag College used to draw a far amount of rental $, but over time the student numbers have dropped off. Although they can also stay on campus, a group of students used to get together and rent a house in town.

If Dalby is on your radar, then perhaps places like Roma and Chinchilla have also been a consideration for you? These towns are further away from the cities. Further west.

 

[plusnq]

I understand a different slab construction is used - a 600mm think suspended slab with 6m concrete piers beneath it which apparently addresses the movement issue

cheers Gravos

Hi

I used to live in Dalby and I have seen many slab designs tried, most unsuccessfully. I would get in contact with local council engineer and ask them about the success or otherwise of slabs on the reactive black soils. I owned a couple of Queenslanders there and on each the verandah door (verandah latticed in) and front door had deadlocks. It was rare for both doors to be able to lock at the same time due to soil movement.

Rental yield was always ok but CG was sporadic. A lot of people still travel to Toowoomba to shop even though the shopping has markedly improved in town. The town does flood when the Myall and Condamine come up and I would consider that in my house location and design.

Good luck.

Cheers

Shane

 

[Gravos]

Gravos

If Dalby is on your radar, then perhaps places like Roma and Chinchilla have also been a consideration for you? These towns are further away from the cities. Further west.

I did think about Chinchilla, but it is a much smaller town and Dalby is more of a regional centre (primary schools; high schools; tafe etc). I did also wonder about Toowoomba, which is obviously not that far away

Its interesting also what you say about the Acland Coal mine not having that much impact on surrounding towns

thanks for your input

Gravos

 

[Gravos]

Hi

I used to live in Dalby and I have seen many slab designs tried, most unsuccessfully. I would get in contact with local council engineer and ask them about the success or otherwise of slabs on the reactive black soils. I owned a couple of Queenslanders there and on each the verandah door (verandah latticed in) and front door had deadlocks. It was rare for both doors to be able to lock at the same time due to soil movement.

Rental yield was always ok but CG was sporadic. A lot of people still travel to Toowoomba to shop even though the shopping has markedly improved in town. The town does flood when the Myall and Condamine come up and I would consider that in my house location and design.

Good luck.

Cheers

Shane

the black soil movement does sound scary - thanks for the tip. I also noticed a number of lots being advertised as flood free zones, which goes to show there's a lot of areas that aren't! thanks for the comments,
Gravos

 

[sivakumar_sr]

I could see big block(20+ acres) of land in Tara near Dalby for 40,000. Does this means that you have more land around Dalby?

 

[Gravos]

I could see big block(20+ acres) of land in Tara near Dalby for 40,000. Does this means that you have more land around Dalby?

Well there certainly are larger rural blocks further out from the Town, however, I was looking more at the smaller (1-5 acre) blocks in close proximity to the Town. There seems to be a fair amount available of these (a search on realestate.com.au brought up 107 hits for land in Dalby - with most in the 1-5 acre size)

 

[Rockstar]

Bump.

Just read this info on Dalby. Also been some B.A.'s (like Cameron Bird) pushing the place for obvious reasons. Seems to be revving up out there. Anyone have any local knowledge on the town?

http://www.dalby.info/news/jun06_devlpmt.asp

 

[Icarus]

Bump.

Just read this info on Dalby. Also been some B.A.'s (like Cameron Bird) pushing the place for obvious reasons. Seems to be revving up out there. Anyone have any local knowledge on the town?

http://www.dalby.info/news/jun06_devlpmt.asp

We bought 2 IPs in Dalby in Oct 2007 and Jan 2008 and returns for both are good

4br @$185k - $300 pw
3Br @$192k - $270 pw

Excellent tennents, power company is renting one of the places and single worker is renting the other.

Spent approx $10k on renos for both (paint, gutters etc - mainly external) have been recently valued at $255k and $245k respectively.

We went for a drive out there last week to have a look around (had been 10 months since last visit) and it was amazing to see the difference. It's really gone ahead!

There are a number of new estates that have popped up since last visit, a fair number of completed houses have sold/rented signs on them - grabbed a rental list from 2 agents in town and numbers are pretty limited as is the range of accom.

Looking around, a number of developers have gone with the slab approach - but the developments in the block behind my place have been built with concrete stumps.

Having a read through of the newsletter put out by the Council - population is currently around 30,000 for the district. Not sure which areas this encoumpasses.

The 1ac+ blocks out of town are nice, most have a new home covenant on them though, so not suitable for our plans.

RE agent said there is a camp for the power/gas workers, but lack of suitable accom hinders their families moving out. I'd live there for sure, great little town!

Shopping centre is very modern and well designed - has Big W (was surprised by this first time I walked in) along with a number of other chain stores.

We are in the process of picking up another place in town with good rental return and subdivision potential.

Hope that was of some use, will be travelling out there again within the next few weeks so can get pics/info if anyone is interested. Also happy to share info about the good/bad RE agents there. It's just on 200kms from our place in Chapel Hill, so not a bad drive at all.

BTW. Gravos, did you mean Mackay in the above post being less than 5000? It's hovering around the 100,000 mark atm. Tipped to reach 130,000 in the next 15 years.

 

[Icarus]

BTW. This article is a couple of years old. Just had a read of it properly...

Ethanol plant is now up and running and a number of large scale feedlot developments have gone ahead.

 

[chinchilla]

Rural property Investment

Rural properties in the "Energy Triangle" of Dalby , Chinchilla and Wandoan are being resumed by companies like QGC, Linc Energy, and coal companies like Xstrata, Metro coal, CS Energy, Tarong Coal and cougar energy and Origin and Arrrow to name a few. The rate per hectare is very healthy...and if you are lucky enough to be close, chances are within the next ten years you can expect to make a healthy profit...plus make a passive income and reciev tax benefits while waiting...

example

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bi...r=&cc=&c=65080231&s=qld&snf=rbs&tm=1255261338

 

[Gravos]

Dalby

Interesting to see this thread has come back to life. I did eventually get an IP there - in one of the estates (land & house package). It rented out for $490/wk - which was less than they were renting for previous to that, but at the moment there seems to be a bit of a glut on the rental market and rental prices have dropped quite a bit. The vacancy rate is quite high I believe. However it is probably a matter of time before the supply is taken up - another stage of construction on a power station is due to begin before too long and there is a similar project in the wings too.

 

[Fudge]

Interesting to see this thread has come back to life. I did eventually get an IP there - in one of the estates (land & house package). It rented out for $490/wk - which was less than they were renting for previous to that, but at the moment there seems to be a bit of a glut on the rental market and rental prices have dropped quite a bit. The vacancy rate is quite high I believe. However it is probably a matter of time before the supply is taken up - another stage of construction on a power station is due to begin before too long and there is a similar project in the wings too.

I am heading out there on Monday to carry out initial investigations on camps and accomodation for a particular power plant project in the area.

Icarus,

I would be interested in your thoughts on agents out there, and also if you can comment on areas to stay out of. (you know every area has them).

Cheers,

F

 

[Icarus]

Icarus,
I would be interested in your thoughts on agents out there, and also if you can comment on areas to stay out of. (you know every area has them).

Fudge,

I've dealt with a few agents out there, mainly Chris Hoadley from Dalby 1st National who is probably one of the most genuine agents I've come across over the past 5 years of investing. Ex primary teacher, always returns calls/emails (even sms' messages!) promptly.

Steve Balmer at Dalby 1st National is good as well.

Another pretty good one is Sandra Tuxworth at Daby Real Estate, she's only fairly new to Dalby, but helpful, good to deal with and gives prompt replies.

Not overly happy with Richard Handley at Ray White. Would not recommend him at all.

As for areas to stay away from, it's really hard to say. Depending on what your clientelle are will depend on what areas you buy in. There are a few HC areas on the (I think) west side of town (my geography is terrible). Google McPherson Court... Although in the streets around this area are beautiful homes.

We're heading out to Toowoomba and Dalby tomorrow to have another look around. I've really been focusing on Toowoomba over the past few months as houses are cheaper (although so is rent), but there's got to be a flow on effect from the energy boom heading that way soon and Toowoomba is just too cheap when compared with surrounding areas. And with a bit of work, they'd be cf +ve or at least neutral.

Any other questions, feel free to ask!

 

[Fudge]

Icarus,
I would be interested in your thoughts on agents out there, and also if you can comment on areas to stay out of. (you know every area has them).

Fudge,

I've dealt with a few agents out there, mainly Chris Hoadley from Dalby 1st National who is probably one of the most genuine agents I've come across over the past 5 years of investing. Ex primary teacher, always returns calls/emails (even sms' messages!) promptly.

Steve Balmer at Dalby 1st National is good as well.

Another pretty good one is Sandra Tuxworth at Daby Real Estate, she's only fairly new to Dalby, but helpful, good to deal with and gives prompt replies.

Not overly happy with Richard Handley at Ray White. Would not recommend him at all.

As for areas to stay away from, it's really hard to say. Depending on what your clientelle are will depend on what areas you buy in. There are a few HC areas on the (I think) west side of town (my geography is terrible). Google McPherson Court... Although in the streets around this area are beautiful homes.

We're heading out to Toowoomba and Dalby tomorrow to have another look around. I've really been focusing on Toowoomba over the past few months as houses are cheaper (although so is rent), but there's got to be a flow on effect from the energy boom heading that way soon and Toowoomba is just too cheap when compared with surrounding areas. And with a bit of work, they'd be cf +ve or at least neutral.

Any other questions, feel free to ask!

Thanks for that.

Yep, I have been researching Toowoomba for a few months now, and looks pretty good, provided you buy in under market value.

Other recent purchases have kept me away from Toowoomba, but hopefully, in the not too distant future, I will be able to back my research up with a solid offer. (Just needing to increase serviceability a bit now)

Where abouts are you looking in Toowooomba? I could pull out my research and give you some info I have reviewed. Speaking with a number of the local agents there, there are a few suburbs to stay away from......but then I suppose as you say, it depends what tenant you are marketing.

Cheers,

F