hot spots - between sydney & brisbane

With millions of baby boomers retiring in the next 15 years or so, where will these people choose to live. I doubt if it will be FNQ as the weather is just too hot & humid for most people, WA is too remote. My preference is anywhere between sydney & brisbane along the coast. Wondering what other people think and if it is where one should buy IPs.
 
Having seen my parents so the sea change thing some 20 years ago , and then move back to Sydney after a few years as they were too far away from every thing , I think that the closer somewhere is to a major centre the better it will do .

I'm not sure if I'll do it for that reason , more likely we'll have two homes, compact town house / unit central , then a weekend in Central coast or Pittwater :cool: .

See Change
 
I'm thinking the gold coast. Southern Gold Soast has a airport at coolangatta, so convienant trips back to the city (melbourne/sydney or where ever). Within 1 hour of brisbane (so not far from city life), laid back, close to the beach, warm weather climate. and house prices in comparrison to inner suburbs in capital cities are waaaay cheaper. In my opinion you get your money's worth + plenty of future capital growth.

I read somewhere that the gold coast needs to build 40 houses/apartments a day to service the growing population.

I think the sea change has already started
 
We just bought in Caloundra - 1h to Brisbane and the sunny coast itself has quite a bit to offer. Population growth has been tipped to be substantial and when and if the new trainline comes, transport should be pretty good (plus they are currently extending a number of roads around there). Caloundra is a bit more of a regional centre too so not so dependent on tourism which is good for our sanf. Houses seem to be pretty good value too, a similar property on the Gold Coast close to the beach would have been about twice what we paid so there should be room for growth.

I would certainly move up there for my sea change - right now actually but no we'll need our tenants to help us pay the bills so no sea change for us until the next boom :( . But its nice to know that someone can hear and see the sea from our house...

kaf
 
Port Macquarie is still, in my opine, a bit of a back water and worthy of much greater development in the years to come.;)
 
Townhouse development close to shops, walking distance to beaches, major transport routes and you can't go wrong. I think some baby boomers will appreciate not having the 4x2 800m2 holiday home.
 
Port Macquarie is still, in my opine, a bit of a back water and worthy of much greater development in the years to come.;)

My mother lives in Port Macquarie. She retired there with my father about 14 years ago. When they moved there, there were more services, but many have now been cut.

My father passed away several years ago now, & this has left mum alone in a retirement unit. She doesn't drive, so it is a major opperation if she needs to go somewhere. Whenever she has a health problem, she needs to get to Coffs Harbour as the facilities in Port aren't that great.

The town is built mainly as a tourist town, & mum always dreads school holidays as the population always increases. The next largest group are retirees.

Unless there are more major facilities, like good healthcare, better transport etc, I wouldn't touch Port Macquarie.
 
My pick is Port Stephens area, a variety of places on offer.

Holiday areas being created at Nelson Bay, heaps of units going in will encourage entertainment to improve for those who like it noisy.

Plenty of quiet backwaters for those who like to relax or fish.

Lower rents for workers in some areas, $200k returning $200 per week rent, so reasonable numbers for FH buyers or renters.

Close to Newcastle for medical services, less than 1hr by car or take the bus.

Day trip from Sydney for lunch if the family want to visit or can do the Sydney sports or shows via bus trips from PS or Newcastle.

Waterfront quite expensive but close to water relatively cheap compared with further north.

Relaxed lifestyle with moderate temperaures (not too hot or humid)

Got my vote:D
 
How does this place sound?

One and a half hours to Sydney, forty five minutes to Newcastle, larger towns at 4km, 15km and 30km (the latter with a Westfield Shopping Centre). Railway station withing walking distance so can leave the car at home for shopping or air port. This town has eight doctors, chemist, x ray, pathology, dentists, hairdressers, butcher, newsagency, fruit shop, take away shop, clothing shop, post office, bottle shop, new restaurant (stone grill), real estate agent, workers club, fish shop, general store, fuel station, curves, gym, squash courts, two boat ramps. The terrain is flat so excellent for walking along a beautiful river front reserve. Anyone who likes water - you have the river, the largest inland tidal salt water lake in Australia and can go to sea if you wish. The development happening within a few km of this town is a huge Marina complex, new Coles and Woolworths and other specialty shops also Bunnings Hardware. You can still buy a waterfront property here for under $500,000 and others in the low two hundreds which are still only a few minutes walk to the water.
 
Could you give some basic guide to yields, vacancies and where you feel it is in the growth cycle ?
Also any pointers on good and to be avoided areas would be great.

thanks

Hi Patosan

Well Caloundra is a bit of a mixed bag with lots of new estates being build away from the beach (Little Mountain, Caloundra West) as well as posh canal estates (Pelican Waters) still being developed. On the other hand you have Kings Beach area with lots and lots of flats (they’ve made a real mess of that suburb – but the beachpark is lovely and ideal for families), while Golden Beach still feels undervalues as you can get a postwar on 600m2 walking distance to the beach for early 300k. King’s Beach is really the first open ocean beach north of Brisbane (ie. it’s not in Moreton Bay). My Residex report (late 2005) has the postcode 4551 in its top 100 SE QLD suburbs 4 times so they seem to think growth will be good in the area. We ended up going for a property in one of the established beachside areas (Shelly Beach) but Dicky Beach, Moffat Beach and Currimundi beachside are really nice too.

I don’t have the figures in my head but I think Caloundra is predicted to roughly double in the next 20 years and they are currently upgrading the trainline and a second line is planned going from the main line via Caloundra up north. Caloundra doesn’t have the posh restaurants of Noosa or Mooloolaba yet but I get the feeling is that they are coming and the infrastructure and scenery is certainly there for some healthy gentrification. Apparently things went a bid mad during the boom as everywhere (so there was a correction after the boom from what I heard) but to me it seemed (like SE Qld in general) that we're through the slump and on a (gentle) rise again. By the way one of the Mooloolaba suburbs topped the QLD growth chart with over 45% growth last year but it's a deep water access canal estate with +1$mio properties everywhere so such growth is a bit hard to judge if it's based on median values.

In Caloundra I personally would stay away from the new developments as there is still lots of land and the places look all the same so can't see immediate pressure on prices, but then I prefer established property anyway. It seems you can get an older style flat in King’s Beach with ocean view for under 300k but again, King’s beach has lots of flats so not sure about the pressure on prices. As for yields: there are quite a few older style duplexes which used to be holiday rental so yield can be quite good. It really depends how much you are prepared to pay (in price and drop of yield) for a view and proximity to the beach as the rents seem to be pretty similar throughout (check out the rta.qld.gov.au site for detailed rents). I’ve not looked into the holiday rental market but permanent rentals are not that common and I think vacancy rates are below 1.5% for the Caloundra area.

Do search some of the posts that Thefirstbruce has posted before he left the forum – he seemed to know the area really well.

Hope this helps!

kaf
 
My mother lives in Port Macquarie. She retired there with my father about 14 years ago. When they moved there, there were more services, but many have now been cut.

My father passed away several years ago now, & this has left mum alone in a retirement unit. She doesn't drive, so it is a major opperation if she needs to go somewhere. Whenever she has a health problem, she needs to get to Coffs Harbour as the facilities in Port aren't that great.

The town is built mainly as a tourist town, & mum always dreads school holidays as the population always increases. The next largest group are retirees.

Unless there are more major facilities, like good healthcare, better transport etc, I wouldn't touch Port Macquarie.
I am sure you are correct regarding the degradation of services however, a different perspective.

My Dad lives at Crescent Head, which is the next coastal town north of Port, and travels to Port for all his medical, heart, cancer etc. Apparently he claims that most of the medical services are represented, and that they are only bettered by Newcastle and Sydney. Having said that, when you get old(er) you tend to think that you either have the best or the worst - with no in between.;)
 
Port Mac ..... Crescent Head .....what do you all think of Nambucca heads? Between Coffs and Port but with none of the intensive development .... yet.
macwilsons
 
The area between the highway and Port Macquarie is being rezoned for light industrial and residential. Coles own a block of land there and will be building a supermarket there in the near future.

Have a look on the council website and search under " Thrumster" which is the name of the region. The population growth forecasts are in there as well.

Port Macq doesn't suit my risk profile, and I'm not saying you should buy there, you can make your own mind up.
 
I bought in Port M - holiday unit - about 2 years ago. It breaks even on a 100% loan. I made about 25% gain between exchange and settlement (bought off the plan) but it has slipped back over the last 12 months. I go up there with the family a couple of times a year, so it's as much a lifestyle investment as anything. I toy with the idea one day of splitting my time between Port and Sydney i.e. having a residence in each. Port has fewer services than Coffs, but I find it a much nicer town. The problem with Coffs is that the main part of town is orientated to the highway, rather than the water - several klms away. There has been a fair bit of building of late down near the water, though.
I haven't been to Nambucca for a while. I did go to Forster late last year, though. I was surprised at how cheap the units fronting the lake were. They're daggy 70s walk-ups, but I find the lake view much more interesting than the ocean view where all the flash new high rise blocks are. My in-laws are moving to Forster this year, so I'm thinking it might be handy to have a place there. Again, it's more a lifestyle decision than anything.
Scott
 
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