Sorry it's taken me so long to reply. It's such a busy time of year.
Keep in mind it's a good time to buy!!
Okay below are some facts and figures for Kingaroy. Hope this helps.
- Kingaroy is the main municipal town for the shire of South Burnett. I see this as a positive.
- Population of approx. 8000.
- Local area population of 13,000.
- Population growth rate has been 1.3%. Forecasted population growth (according to council) is consistent with QLD's forecasted growth rate. (sorry I can't find the details with the exact figures but remember it was the same as the rest of QLD)
- Vacancy rate is below 2% (SQM Research)
- Long term growth rate has been in excess of 10% (APM)
- Yield of in excess of 5%.
Becoming the retail centre for the South Burnett Shire (hence the likes of Harvey Norman and Mitre 10 recently opening).
Emerging tourism / wine region.
Green energy potential with Cougar Energy's UCG plant and the 1.2B Coopers Gap Wind Farm.
Mining potential with the Kunion mine, although I don't believe this will happy for a few years, but I do believe it has to happen at some point as they are running out of coal and have already started the process of reclaiming land (which has obviously been contentious).
No real bad areas in town. Although be careful of the areas with black sand, especially if the property is a brick and tile house as the soil may shift and damage the property. Minor risk but something to be aware of.
Proximity to Brisbane and the coast is excellent - less than 3hr drive which means day trips or attending meetings in Brisbane are possible.
Major employers are Hans Smallgoods Abbatour, Tarong power station and coal mine, Kinngaroy Regional Council, Peanut Company, Bean Growers of Australia, Kingaroy Hospital. Note the diversity and the fact there is no reliance on a single industry or employer which reduces risk.
The town has all the required facilities such as schools (at least 4), 30 man police station, hospital, ambulance unit, all the major banks, most of the major shops such as Big W, Woolworths, Super IGA, Aldi (building), McDonals, KFC, Subway, Red Rooster, etc, etc, also sporting facilities such as public swimming pool, 10 pin bowling, golf coarse, etc, etc.
There are some big blocks and it's not particularly difficult to find properties with development potential. I picked up a half acre block in town with ResB zoning. A property on the same street has submitted a DA to build 15 townhouses on an acre block.
As said above, I see this as a relatively safe investment with good returns and good growth, with the potential for great growth when some of these initiatives kick off.
Now obviously there are negatives... I have been told that there is plenty of land in Kingaroy. Not sure how to go about verifying this (i.e. when I look at a map of Port Headland there seems to be plenty of land but obviously that is not the case there - any insight into this would be appreciated!). The way I look at this is this has always been the case and property has been performing well at 11% long term - so while the town keeps plodding along with business as usual I should see some good growth.
There does seem to be a fair amount of stock on the market at the moment, but that hasn't seemed to affect the housing prices (well they haven't gone into negative territory). The good thing is though, find out which properties have been on the market for a long time and use this to negotiate.
Cheers,
JJ.