Looking at buying an invesment property in Townsville
- Thread starter Cody
- Start date
Hi Cody,
Kelso......Kelso has alot of new home developments going on. The standard 3 and 4x2 on 500-600m2 blocks. Some parts are still classed as semi-rural/hobbie farm acerage. Older parts of the suburb tend to house the very low socio-economic demographics of our community (if you catch my drift) and as a result crime and welfare tends to breed and sustain.
The problem for me with Kelso is that it can take half an hour to drive to the CBD in Townsville and same on return during peak periods and has limited public transport. to get a taxi from Kelso to the CBD for dinner (if they turn up after dark) is a $65 fare one way.....
I have had friends that live there and for these same reasons they are currently looking to relocate more central to the CBD.
These new suburbs look nice from the outside but personally I cant see any real growth opportunities or high yielding dwellings in the near future.
Cheers
Kelso......Kelso has alot of new home developments going on. The standard 3 and 4x2 on 500-600m2 blocks. Some parts are still classed as semi-rural/hobbie farm acerage. Older parts of the suburb tend to house the very low socio-economic demographics of our community (if you catch my drift) and as a result crime and welfare tends to breed and sustain.
The problem for me with Kelso is that it can take half an hour to drive to the CBD in Townsville and same on return during peak periods and has limited public transport. to get a taxi from Kelso to the CBD for dinner (if they turn up after dark) is a $65 fare one way.....
I have had friends that live there and for these same reasons they are currently looking to relocate more central to the CBD.
These new suburbs look nice from the outside but personally I cant see any real growth opportunities or high yielding dwellings in the near future.
Cheers
I think your assessment is pretty good Barry. I left Aitkenvale recently and while it would be be a better from a rental perspective, it too is becoming boganville.
I'm V happy in Wulguru, but the best part of that is pretty small. An easy drive to the city and close to the Army, Uni and Hospital. I'm tucked into the foothills of Mt Stuart, too high to be flooded, above the other houses so cooler and the mountain behind gave us some relief from Yasi.
I'm V happy in Wulguru, but the best part of that is pretty small. An easy drive to the city and close to the Army, Uni and Hospital. I'm tucked into the foothills of Mt Stuart, too high to be flooded, above the other houses so cooler and the mountain behind gave us some relief from Yasi.
Hi Sunfish,
Wulguru has some very nice homes and is well located for easy access to the CBD and with the new woolworths/bunnings etc at fairfield you cant go wrong really.
Up until last December we lived in Fairfield and loved it. Had everything we needed within a 5-10minute walk or a 1 minute drive and only a $10-15 taxi fare to Palmer St for a nice meal and night out.
We looked at a few new properties Kelso but didn't like what we saw and looks like a large percentage of the new properties are in the hands of DHA(not that this is always a bad thing but).
Currently we are looking to purchase another property in the Townsville area by the years end but no need to hurry as the market has been flat for a couple of years and will be sideways for some time yet IMO. This itself is not a bad thing and nothing to worry about as wages need to catch up before further growth can be achieved. I'm not looking for 10-20% gains over a year as I'm not greedy and want my kids to be able to buy a home in the future as well.
I guess there are lots of nice area's in Townsville that will do well in the future. If I were an interstate investor or an out of towner I'd come up for a few days and have a good look around first to see what suits your needs.
Cheers
Wulguru has some very nice homes and is well located for easy access to the CBD and with the new woolworths/bunnings etc at fairfield you cant go wrong really.
Up until last December we lived in Fairfield and loved it. Had everything we needed within a 5-10minute walk or a 1 minute drive and only a $10-15 taxi fare to Palmer St for a nice meal and night out.
We looked at a few new properties Kelso but didn't like what we saw and looks like a large percentage of the new properties are in the hands of DHA(not that this is always a bad thing but).
Currently we are looking to purchase another property in the Townsville area by the years end but no need to hurry as the market has been flat for a couple of years and will be sideways for some time yet IMO. This itself is not a bad thing and nothing to worry about as wages need to catch up before further growth can be achieved. I'm not looking for 10-20% gains over a year as I'm not greedy and want my kids to be able to buy a home in the future as well.
I guess there are lots of nice area's in Townsville that will do well in the future. If I were an interstate investor or an out of towner I'd come up for a few days and have a good look around first to see what suits your needs.
Cheers
What about north side guys? Seems to be a lot of building going on from Bohle River northwards, mix of old socio ec...u know what I mean! with new stuff. I built a new rental at Burdell about 6 yrs ago and it has never had a vacancy and growth has been averaging just over 10%/yr. I had to get it revalued this week to get another place elsewhere and expecting it to have dropped a bit, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that it is still appreciating in value, in a flat market. Maybe Townsville is a relative safe haven because it doesn't rely on a single industry/activity to keep it afloat.
I am about to lock in property in thuringowa, anyone has any opinion on apartments in townsville?
I'm only a casual observer of the apartment market but be werry, werry careful. There are apartments here vacant since being built a couple of years ago.
BTW Why Thuringowa and not Townsville? Personally I would never live there.
Edit: A bit like asking a Sydneysider if they'd live in Gosford, I guess.
Ex-Resident
I lived in Townsville for 20 years. It has a very steady economy due to the major infrastructure of goverment representation, eg army, airforce, not to mention representative state and federal agencies, including the ATO and James Cook University. So lots of Government money here. We left in 2003. At the crest of the boom. 4 properties we sold there are worth double now. One has tripled. We were in Annandale, Aitkenvale, 2xMundingburra. I don't think there's any bargains left now. While there is a city centre, it is not used by the locals much except for the Sunday markets. The shopping hub is now the Woolcock/Dalrymple Rd junction (if my memory serves me right but could be corrected) and Kirwan. I remember that Garbutt, a crappy suburb sitting right beside the airport was making great gains just before we left because of its proximity and cheapness. Young people were buying renovators there. Which is another thing you need to look at as the planes usually turn and come in over the bay which covers Mt. Louisa etc. Check the flight path out with someone. Snob value suburbs are those around Castle Hill, Belgian Gardens, and to a lesser extent Hermit Park and Mundingburra. Hermit Park has lots of old Queenslanders as does West End. If you want Army money go for Annandale. A flat but covenant suburb. Most locals wouldn't head out to Kelso, Rasmussen or really anything up that stretch - mainly because of the long drive and lack of infrastructure. Plus it was a Council release of land way back when for all the low income to be able to build. There is also a lot of Government housing (boxes on stilts) in Townsville built in the 60's like Heatley. Row after row of them. Kirwan is huge. When we watched it grow from the 70's we called it "nappy valley". So a mixture of housing as estate after estate opened up. That's because we had 2 mayors. One in the City and one in Kirwan. A great political race between them. Kirwan Mayor finally won with the recent restructuring. Ah....sigh.....I digress. And I need to wrap up. I think the capital growth has already occurred in Townsville if that is what you are looking for. If you are looking for steady rental I don't think you can beat the place. Just avoid the Uni students who are desperate for houses for them and their mates. Had some awful experiences there. Please feel free to PM me.
I lived in Townsville for 20 years. It has a very steady economy due to the major infrastructure of goverment representation, eg army, airforce, not to mention representative state and federal agencies, including the ATO and James Cook University. So lots of Government money here. We left in 2003. At the crest of the boom. 4 properties we sold there are worth double now. One has tripled. We were in Annandale, Aitkenvale, 2xMundingburra. I don't think there's any bargains left now. While there is a city centre, it is not used by the locals much except for the Sunday markets. The shopping hub is now the Woolcock/Dalrymple Rd junction (if my memory serves me right but could be corrected) and Kirwan. I remember that Garbutt, a crappy suburb sitting right beside the airport was making great gains just before we left because of its proximity and cheapness. Young people were buying renovators there. Which is another thing you need to look at as the planes usually turn and come in over the bay which covers Mt. Louisa etc. Check the flight path out with someone. Snob value suburbs are those around Castle Hill, Belgian Gardens, and to a lesser extent Hermit Park and Mundingburra. Hermit Park has lots of old Queenslanders as does West End. If you want Army money go for Annandale. A flat but covenant suburb. Most locals wouldn't head out to Kelso, Rasmussen or really anything up that stretch - mainly because of the long drive and lack of infrastructure. Plus it was a Council release of land way back when for all the low income to be able to build. There is also a lot of Government housing (boxes on stilts) in Townsville built in the 60's like Heatley. Row after row of them. Kirwan is huge. When we watched it grow from the 70's we called it "nappy valley". So a mixture of housing as estate after estate opened up. That's because we had 2 mayors. One in the City and one in Kirwan. A great political race between them. Kirwan Mayor finally won with the recent restructuring. Ah....sigh.....I digress. And I need to wrap up. I think the capital growth has already occurred in Townsville if that is what you are looking for. If you are looking for steady rental I don't think you can beat the place. Just avoid the Uni students who are desperate for houses for them and their mates. Had some awful experiences there. Please feel free to PM me.
